Piecing together memories
by Varishi
Summary: When Ed wakes up in hospital with no memory of why he's there or even why he's hurt, how can Al and Mustang figure out exactly what went down when Ed was attacked three days beforehand? With no memory to help him, can Ed find his attackers? RATED T FOR SAFETY.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello everyone! This idea was a little random, I do have a plan of where the story's going but I need some input… Should I continue this story or start a new one?_

_Please review and let me know if I should continue ;)_

_Varishi x_

**Scrambled Memories**

Ed opened his eyes weakly. He had no memory of why they had been closed in the first place. But as he completed a quick sweeping glance at his surroundings he knew for a fact that he was no longer in Lieutenant Colonel Hughes' house anymore. Now he was in a white room, with a familiar beeping noise frequenting the background noise annoyingly. He turned his head to the side, quickly discovering that _everything_ was stiff. He wasn't alone in the room, he could hear murmuring, but the voices sounded far away and he couldn't tune in to what they were saying. He felt cold fingers tilt his head upright again and flash a bright light in and out of his eyes, he mentally confirmed his location. He was in a hospital.

As he squeezed his eyelids together and opened them back out again, Ed felt the murkiness which had previously clouded his consciousness clear a little. The people, whom Ed had placed to be doctors, left the room; leaving an unsettling silence in their wake. That is, until a loud clanking noise cut through the stillness. The loud noise of metal crashing against metal as a large suit of armour moved closer to his side, a suit of armour Ed knew was his younger brother Alphonse. A smile touched his lips, knowing there was at least one thing about his whole situation that he recognised and that he knew he could trust.

"Brother?" Alphonse asked softly. His metallic voice ringing through the suit of armour, originating from the blood seal smeared inside. Ed's consciousness continued to clear steadily as his constant nattering questions in his mind chased away that murkiness which prevented him from learning the answers._ How did I get here? How long have I been here? Why am I here? Am I even in Central anymore?_

Finally, almost ceremoniously, Ed managed to drag himself up into a sitting position. Gritting his teeth, Ed discovered a sharp pain in his abdomen and left shoulder. Al stepped forward with his arms outstretched, as though silently wishing he had just remained lying down. But Ed adjusted the hospital bed so that it was in a sitting position and relaxed against the pillows, for the time being anyway – and for now that was good enough for Alphonse.

"Hey Al," Ed began, the words came out scratchy and he had to cough to be sure his next words would be more audible, "Are you okay?" Almost as soon as the last word had gotten out, Al let a concerned noise escape his armour. It was the only way, after all, for Al to express both his worry and his relief. Al dragged a sturdy looking chair over to Ed's bedside and sat down, staring into his older brother's tired eyes. Al had been staring at his brother's sleeping form for three days now, watching every laboured breath. He had refused to leave Ed's side for a moment, just in case there was a possibility that he might wake up.

"I'm fine, brother." Al whispered, emotion straining his voice. He looked down and let out a nervous chuckle before connecting his eyes with Ed's again, "Would it be a stupid question to ask how you're doing?"

"Not at all! I'm just fine, Al. You'll see I'll be back out there in no time!" Ed said energetically. Well, 'energetically' was what he had intended, but he still sounded exhausted. But still, Alphonse found it a relief to see his brother speaking, with some colour in his cheeks. After all, the younger brother had no idea what had happened to his sibling. He hadn't known what kind of fight Ed must have gotten into to sustain the injuries that he had. Two stab wounds to the abdomen and left shoulder, one trauma to the head and bruising pretty much everywhere else. Although Al didn't want to make Ed worry about the details right now, he sure wanted to know who did this to him.

"Do you… Do you remember anything?" Al asked; his curiosity and concern getting the better of him. If he had a heart, Al's would have sunk as he watched his brother turn his head away as though embarrassed and subtly shake his head. Ed met his younger brother's eyes once more and frowned, the same pose he always used when he was in deep thought. He blinked a few times whilst probing his memories for a trace, a clue, or any sign that might lead to the discovery of what exactly had happened to him. But he came up short.

"I don't remember anything. We were staying the night at the Hughes' and then nothing." Ed replied uncomfortably. As he looked for any sort of body language that might give him an idea of what his younger brother was thinking, the blonde suddenly remembered his own question he wanted to ask, "Are we still in Central?"

"You don't remember that either, huh?" Al mused to himself, trying to piece together where his brother's memories stopped, "We're still in Central, brother. You're in a military hospital."

"A military hospital, eh?" Ed repeated to himself. Al jumped in shock as an angry look passed his brother's face as he brought his hands up to his head and started shouting in irritation, "_Why_ can't I remember!? What's going on here, Alphonse?" Shortly after the sudden movement, Ed grabbed at his stomach where his wound was and winced in pain. Al stood up and pushed the blonde back against his pillows and gave him a stern look, Ed scowled at his younger brother and crossed his arms across his chest; shivering at the cold metal of his automail arm.

"Listen, I have to go and call the Colonel to let him know you're awake. So just take it easy and I'll be right back okay?" Al announced. Ed rolled his eyes, _great_, Colonel Bastard was going to pay him a visit. _Well that's just fantastic isn't it? _Ed thought, _Even when I'm hospitalised I can't escape him lecturing me about things I don't care about at all._

Alphonse kept the conversation with the Colonel short, wanting to return to Ed's side as soon as possible. Soon enough the two boys were together again, although neither of them spoke. They were both too plagued by their own thoughts to share them with each other. Each teenager's head filled with questions that they didn't have the answers too. They became so consumed by their thoughts that they barely even noticed when Colonel Mustang arrived with his Lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye. In his hand, the Colonel carried a small file.

"Fullmetal." Colonel Mustang acknowledged. Ed returned his greeting with a short,_ painful_ nod. The last thing Ed wanted to see right now was the Colonel's sorry face, he almost wished he was unconscious again. But as Ed searched the Colonel's expression, he found only concern for the boy. Ed coughed uncomfortably and fidgeted in his bed until Lieutenant Hawkeye addressed him.

"Edward, how are you feeling?" She asked in a motherly voice. Although she was known for pulling a gun on anyone who crossed her, Mustang had always told his subordinates that really she had a gentle heart. In the cases of the two young boys who couldn't seem to keep themselves out of trouble, this fact had proven true time and time again. Al couldn't help but notice the small smile that had appeared on the Colonel's usually harsh face when Hawkeye had asked her first question. Mustang soon realised that two pairs of eyes were resting on him and he immediately dropped his faint ghost of a smile.

"I'm fine," Ed said quietly, looking down at his legs which were covered in the typical clinical white sheets of a hospital bed, "This is nothing, really." But the older Elric wasn't fooling anyone. Each individual in the room knew Ed well enough to know that in reality he was as disturbed about his situation as everyone else was. _The kid's only human, after all. _Colonel Mustang thought as he tried to stop his concern reaching his face.

After pulling up chairs on the opposite side of Ed's bed to Al, Mustang and Hawkeye sat down and looked at Edward with grave expressions on their faces. Al filled the two officers in on what exactly Ed remembered, and where his memory stopped. After hearing this, the Colonel opened the thin file which he had brought with him and selectively took information and read it aloud from the papers inside.

"Edward Elric was found at twenty-three hundred hours in the sewers beneath the south roads in Central. Found by: Maintenance worker, Tyke Goodman. Condition: Critical, no further information. Causes: Unknown. Any others involved: Attacks on Major Elric suspected, identities unknown." Mustang closed the file again. Ed was disappointed, he had thought that maybe something would jog his memory, but the Colonel knew just as much as Ed did about this. Nothing.

"Wait, so you've been at this for three days and you couldn't dig anything up?" Al complained. The older Elric was not yet aware of how long he had been in this condition for, so when he heard, everything else that was being said had been drowned out by his own disbelief. Whilst Ed's mind went blank as he was swarmed by his own thoughts once more, the remaining three continued to discuss the possibilities.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes and the investigations department were hoping that Fullmetal himself could shed some light on this whole incident." Mustang sighed, clearly unhappy that whoever did this to Edward Elric, the prodigy; could still be at large in Central somewhere. The trio were interrupted by a hiss that came from Ed as he adjusted himself again. The teenager had his left hand pressed over the stab wound in his abdomen in discomfort and judging by the expression on his face, the pain medication had worn off.

"I'll go and get a nurse." Hawkeye offered, turning to the Colonel as though to receive permission before she left. Mustang nodded at her and she left the room at a fast pace to find the nearest doctor or nurse that she could. The Colonel kept his eyes on Edward, protectively watching for any change in his condition. He looked over at Alphonse, only to discover that he was doing the exact same thing as the Colonel.

Al hated having to watch his brother in pain before him, _I can't even feel pain._ Ed kept his hand pressed down on the lower stab wound which was causing him the most pain. It was a horrible ache that started to feel like fire if he moved. He could no longer concentrate on what was around him; all he wanted was for the pain to stop. This pain. It was familiar; he had felt similar pain before. He got so close to remembering, remembering where exactly he had felt this pain before. But before his memory clicked into place the pain was relieved. _Damn it, _Ed cursed mentally, _I almost remembered._

The nurse injected Ed saying that it should help to relieve the pain. Al was relieved when he saw his brother relax, but for some reason the older Elric looked frustrated. As the nurse left, Mustang, Hawkeye and Al tried to think of what exactly should be done. Ed had clearly been attacked, but he couldn't remember, so who were his attackers? He'd left the Hughes' household late at night, but he didn't remember that either, so why did he leave? And why without Al? He was found in the sewers, but how did he get there? There were far too many mysteries and not enough answers.

"So," Colonel Mustang started, clapping his gloved hands together, "How do we get to the bottom of this one?" Ed and Al glanced at each worriedly; something told them that this was the beginning of a journey that they wouldn't like.

_Well! That's the first chapter, 2000 words exactly! Anyways, please review and tell me, SHOULD I CONTIUE THIS OR SHOULD I START A DIFFERENT STORY? Advice would be greatly appreciated ;)_

_Varishi xD_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey guys! Thanks for the lovely reviews, I'll continue the story! If you want to, you can review after this chapter and give me a few ideas of where you'd like the story to head. I'll take your ideas into account but I may not be able to incorporate them ;)  
Thanks for all your help! Varishi x_

**Picking up a Trail**

Another four days in hospital meant that Ed had for the most part healed his injuries. He was able to walk around and generally was feeling a lot better. But the Elric was only too aware that his memory hadn't made a reappearance and probably wouldn't. After the Colonel's visit, the blonde had been ordered to 'take it easy' and shortly after had ordered no more visitors to be allowed through to see Fullmetal during his recovery. Al remained with Ed the whole time, keeping him company and discussing what route they should take when they left the hospital – Ed was to be discharged today.

Back in his trademark red coat and heavy-duty boots, Ed felt himself again. He was going to help the others investigate exactly what had happened a week ago when he had turned up unconscious underground in the sewers. Alphonse hadn't noticed Ed acting any differently prior to when he left the Hughes' house, he didn't even know that his older brother had left until he got the call from Colonel Mustang. Adding to Ed's own confusion of what had happened; the investigations department had only found a few items at the sight of the incident which may not have even been related to what went down that night. Everyone was totally oblivious, and it seemed that everyone was relying on Ed himself to figure it out.

"Well Al, I think I've spent enough time in this place to last me a _decade_!" Ed commented flippantly as he pulled his golden hair into his favourite braid. The suit of armour was elated to see that some brightness had returned to Ed's eyes, his older brother seemed to have regained that air of confidence which usually hung around him. Ed grinned at his younger brother before turning on his heel and setting off out of the hospital at a brisk pace, "Come on, Al, I say we go and check out the sewers first. There has to be something there to trigger my memory, right?"

"Right," Al responded assuredly. Hearing the confidence in his brother's voice he couldn't help but feel that same confidence fill the empty suit of armour. The younger Elric started after his brother, clinking and clanking loudly down the hallway. Quickly remembering, Al chipped in, "Don't forget, I think it would be a good idea to talk to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes and his family as well. They were the last ones to see you before you left."

Ed nodded shortly. As the two brothers exited the hospital they made a left and began the short walk which would lead them to the south of Central. It must have been a weekend because Central was busy and bustling with children running around and people chatting as they entered and exited shops all around them. A few people stopped to stare at Ed and Al, recognising who they must be, but deciding against addressing them. After all, Ed carried a determined look on his face and his whole demeanour suggested that he was in a rush. Whilst Ed thought about how exactly to go about this case, Alphonse couldn't help but think to himself, _It feels like I'm going on just some other ordinary trip with Brother. _

Finally, the two boys made it to the crime scene. The area around the hole leading to the sewers had been closed off and was guarded by two guards they didn't know and one man that they had only half-expected to be there: Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes. As they approached, Hughes turned his head sharply and his whole face lit up seeing the Elrics. He came rushing over to them and as he stuck a hand in one of the pockets on his royal blue military coat, Alphonse knew exactly what was coming next. And as he turned his head to his brother in exasperation, he knew that Ed understood what was coming too.

"Hi Ed! You know my darling Elicia has gotten so big lately!" Hughes enthused. He laid a hand on Ed's head and shoved the photograph of a very young, and admittedly adorable, Elicia Hughes. Ed reached up and pushed the hand off of the top of his head, he hated it when people did that. It was like they were just trying to prove to him how little he was. Ed knew for a fact that he _wasn't_ little, he was a growing boy and he would tower above everyone one day! _They'll see, and then I'll call _them _short and see how they like it,_ Ed thought.

"So that's it? No 'how're you doing, Ed?' or maybe even an update on what's going on down there in the sewers. Anything that's useful?" Ed muttered, trying to keep his temper under control. Al let out an awkward chuckle as Hughes shook his head and started to obsess over his wife Gracia next. Ed shook his head tiredly and wondered if the Lieutenant Colonel found _anything_ serious enough to avoid talking about his family. Unlikely.

"Of course not! Why would I bore you with the little stuff?" Hughes protested in between admiring his photograph. He tucked it safely away in his pocket once more and shot Ed a fleeting smile. Al could see the irritation building in his older brother, but he knew that Ed held only respect for Maes Hughes. Just as Al knew that Hughes thought of the two Elrics more as dear friends than subordinates and he often used his antics as a distraction for the boys, they often seemed to have too much weighing on their young shoulders.

"This isn't _little stuff_; nothing about me is ever _little!_" Ed retorted. In Hughes' mind, Ed was short. There was no doubt about that, so when Ed had blurted out this statement he had smirked and snorted a little before straightening up and perfecting his composure. He didn't want to point out Ed's blatant mistake. Ed had a reputation of getting unnecessarily worked up when someone said just about _anything_ about his height.

"Anyway, follow me," Hughes commanded, "I'll show you what there is to see, there's not really much though." Al watched in amusement as the frustration that had been slowly building up in his older brother simply dropped away and he started forward waving for Al to follow him. Hughes stepped over the tape which was keeping members of the public from falling into the hole leading to the sewers. He then found the ladder and started to descend to the sewers, looking up briefly just to check that the boys were still right behind him. Ed mounted the ladder and assessed the metal he was now clinging to. It was steel, and from the sounds of things when he tapped the metal with his automail finger it was hollow. It could probably take Al's weight, but really Ed wasn't willing to take the risk.

"Hey, why don't you stay here, Al?" Ed asked softly. In the background Al could hear Hughes' feet click-clacking down the metal steps. Al knew that voice that he was using, Ed didn't want to say aloud that he couldn't physically go down to avoid embarrassing him in front of the other people there. Al nodded and then clanked away. As Al looked up at the buildings around him, he noticed that they were all residential; maybe they had heard something a week ago, "Maybe I can go and talk to a few residents, Ed? They might have seen or heard something weird."

"Good idea!" He grinned; half of him was glad that he wouldn't have to explain to anyone why Al couldn't join him in the sewers. The other half was glad that Al had actually thought of a very good and useable reason to stay up on the surface. Ed gripped the steel ladder and started to descend down the ladder when he heard the tap of Hughes' feet meeting to ground down below him.

Ed let go of the ladder once he was at the bottom of the narrow shaft which had the nasty stench of the sewers stagnating in it. He turned around to meet the scene of the area that he had apparently been attacked in, no wonder they hadn't found anything significant. The only evidence that something went down here was the small trail of blood leading to a larger pool coming from the water side. He stared at the blood and it was only when Hughes cleared his throat that Ed looked away and met a pair of brown eyes.

"That blood's yours. We checked," Hughes began. He pointed over to the river running through the sewers and then pointed upstream, "We think that you went into the sewers via a different entrance, somewhere closer to my own house I'd imagine. I think that we couldn't find much because the struggle, if there was one, was carried out in the water. So any evidence that would have been left behind was cleared downstream by the water."

"Do you have people looking for anything that might have washed up further along the sewage line?" Ed asked. He already knew that Hughes was smart enough to have done that already, but he was just making conversation to hide that fact that he was very disappointed. He thought there might be something that would jog his memory, something left by his attackers that would make him understand what happened. But there was literally nothing, just his own blood.

"Yes, we're doing everything we can to recover anything that comes up," Hughes explained. "Considering your injuries, I think you must have gotten a hit in somewhere. So we've swept through hospitals for any injuries that might have resulted from a struggle, but nobody was consistent with your case. You dragged yourself out of the water too, so you must have either been abandoned by your attackers by then, or you dealt with them somehow."

He walked over to the side of the water where the blood trail began; Ed followed him and crouched down over the other side of the trail. There was something about his surroundings that was familiar, but it wasn't triggering any memories. It seemed like Hughes had worked up a pretty good theory on what had happened at the end of the line, but nobody had any information so far on what had happened at the beginning of all of this. Ed hoped that Al was having better luck than he was down here. Anything, even a little detail could probably let slip a big part of this story.

"See there?" Hughes asked as he pointed at the side of the water where finger shaped smudge marks were placed on the side and a few splodges of the giddy scarlet colour were close by. Ed nodded queasily, remembered that he was looking at his own blood. There was so _much_ of it. Hughes continued, "I think the smudges were caused by your efforts to get out of the water and rolling away from the edge. I think it's safe to say that you got yourself out of the water and then passed out before you were found."

"About that," Ed stated. Something had been bothering him about Tyke Goodman's story since he'd been told about the details of his case, "Why exactly was Tyke Goodman out at eleven at night doing maintenance? On a weekend as well."

"He told the military police that he was on an emergency call from his company." Hughes explained. Ed frowned in doubt, what kind of emergency couldn't wait until morning in the _sewers_ of all places? It didn't make any sense; surely he would have someone else with him too? Either way, Ed had gotten all that he felt he needed from this scene. As he straightened up, he began to think that after speaking to Hughes and his family in more depth about his behaviour that night; maybe he should pay Tyke Goodman a visit too.

Ed mounted the ladder and began to climb up again, there was something about this Tyke Goodman that was just bothering him. The name seemed to make him feel on edge, maybe it was just because he was a little on edge. Or maybe it something else – like an instinct?

_Phew! Done, it took a while but I got there! So what do you think guys? Again, I'll try to incorporate your ideas into the story if you'd like! Please review and tell me if you still want more… ;)_

_Thanks for your support! Varishi xx_


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm back again! Ready to write some more! Don't worry by the way, I am actually doing things worth doing, I just wake up unnaturally early most of the time, so I type up some stuff before everyone wakes up. That's not a waste of time, right? ;)_

_Anyway, I'm think I should bring our own Roy Mustang back into this chapter! Enjoy!_

_Varishi x_

Al watched as his brother climbed down the ladder after Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, he had really wanted to see the scene himself. Not only so that he could hear what Hughes had figured out so far, but also so that he could be there for Ed. Clearing his head of all worries, Al knew that he could be spending his time in a more useful way, asking around for witnesses in the residential buildings nearby. As he walked past the other two guards that the brothers had seen when they first arrived, Al nodded at them and headed to the house which was closest to the sewer opening.

He was having no luck, everyone who opened the door so far had said that this area was a reasonably quiet neighbourhood and usually all of the trouble was found around the north of Central. A few said that they had heard some banging around late at night, but at the time they had assumed it was cats jumping from place to place. It could have been the sound of his older brother fighting, but Al thought that surely the sound of a fight could be distinguished easily from the sound of a cat running about. So, after knocking on his fifteenth door and receiving similar answers to the others, Alphonse decided that if there was any evidence to be gathered, he would have gotten it by now.

Feeling defeated and useless, Al hung his head and returned to the opening of the sewers, listening to the unnatural crashing of his artificial body as he ambled back. As he walked around the slight bend, he was surprised to see that another officer had arrived at the scene in the short time that Alphonse was gone. Colonel Mustang was stood with his usual intimidating concrete face, and as Al looked further down he saw the Colonel holding an evidence bag in his hand. _The Colonel must have something worth looking at if he took the time to come and find us,_ Alphonse thought. All of his previous dejected feelings were discarded as he quickened his pace towards Ed's commanding officer, _I wonder if Brother has found anything yet?_

"Hello Colonel." Al greeted Mustang politely as usual. Mustang wondered whether Al had stolen all of the politeness from Ed, the two boys were total opposites when it came to their tempers. It was like Alphonse was the older brother.

"Alphonse, I brought the only piece of evidence the investigations department could find. Although I don't know how much help it'll be." The Colonel said informatively. He held out a clear plastic bag with the word 'EVIDENCE' printed across the seal. Al took the little bag and looked through the plastic at what was inside; it was just a small piece of black material. A lot of people wear black clothes; that scrap could have belonged to anyone. Trying to hide his disappointment, Al thanked the Colonel and held onto the bag. He knew that his brother would still want to look at the small scrap of cloth anyway.

"I've decided to help with the investigation," Colonel Mustang said as though trying to fill the silence that threatened to reveal Al's disappointment in the lack of promise the new evidence held, "Anyone who managed to handle Fullmetal that easily clearly has to be found. I can't allow the culprits to continue roaming the streets in Central. Have you found anything new?"

"No. I tried asking around for witnesses but everyone is sure that there wasn't anything unusual happening that night. It all depends on what Brother thinks of everything." Al explained nervously. It was then that the both of them heard uneven steps tapping up the ladder from the sewer. Al inched closer to the opening and watched as his brother's head emerged from the dark space inside. Ed didn't look especially shaken by what he had seen so Al let go of his concerns and sighed in relief.

"Did you find anything, Brother?" Al asked as he stuck a metal hand down to help the older Elric step up onto the surface from the rusting steel ladder. Ed straightened up and Mustang noticed his eyebrow twitch in irritation as he acknowledged the arrival of his commanding officer. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes as though trying to memorise everything that he had seen so far, Ed laid his hands on his hips.

"Well, it's obvious why nobody could really find anything useful. Anything that might have been there before was washed away by the water, although I think I know where we need to head after Hughes' house." Ed explained casually as though this was some sort of equation rather than a case to find someone who had attempted to murder him. Ed's eyes opened and almost immediately flashed to the plastic bag in Al's grip, he already could tell what the contents were, but he decided to ask anyway, "Did you find anything, Al? What have you got there?"

"I asked around, but nobody had anything interesting to say," Al said. Ed's mood dropped slightly more to the annoyed side of things. He had really thought that there had to be _someone _who knew_ something_. But it couldn't be helped; his distracted mind was refocused instantly as Al held out the plastic bag to him and pointed to it with his other hand, "It's just a piece of cloth, Colonel Mustang bought it down for us. It was the only thing other than you that they've found, Brother."

"Huh, Colonel Bastard did something useful? Let me see that," Ed quipped, taking hold of the plastic bag. Just as his younger brother had told him, it was just a piece of black cloth. Ed let a faint smile creep onto his face as he saw the Colonel's expression grow aggravated at his insulting remark. Ed opened the plastic bag and pulled the contents out with his left hand, feeling the rough material in-between his finger and thumb. Once again, his mind focused on alchemy and he analysed the components which made up the scrap, "Not what I was expecting."

"Sorry it's not up to your _standards_, Fullmetal, but it was all we… could…" The Colonel trailed off as he stared at Ed's face. The brat was smiling, but it wasn't as though he was mocking his superior. It was more of a smile showing that Mustang had taken the wrong meaning from his words. Al looked at his older brother in slight confusion as Ed visibly looked more confident.

"I was expecting material common to Central," Ed explained as though that was all of the information he needed to give to make the other two understand. As Ed quickly scanned the body language of the Colonel and Al he realised that he was mistaken and sighed heavily as though it was obvious, "You know, here all of the clothes are made from cheap polymers so that clothing can be mass produced to cater for the big population in Central. But this scrap looks to be made from wool and cotton, so it was either bought in one of the more expensive stores here or the person who lost this isn't from around here."

Realisation clicked into place and Alphonse added his own nugget of knowledge to make things even clearer for the Colonel, "Yes! Like back home in Resembool, right Brother? It's miles to anywhere so the wool from the sheep is used to make clothes sometimes."

"Exactly." Ed confirmed with a sharp nod of his head and a proud brotherly smile in Al's direction. As Ed returned the piece of cloth to its evidence bag, Mustang was still stood in mild awe. Even though he already knew what the material was made of because he had found out whilst Ed was still in the hospital, he himself would never have made that connection. Hughes emerged from the sewer opening and ventured out into the open where he noticed the Colonel's arrival and his hand started to sneak into his pocket to reach for his photograph again.

As Hughes started to obsess to Mustang over his family, Al and Ed hurriedly excused themselves and went to discuss their findings in private. It became obvious to them both that this wasn't going to be a straightforward case. The both of them decided that the piece of cloth that Mustang had brought them could be of some use somewhere further down the line, so they kept it with them, storing it safely inside Al's armour.

"Let's go and see Gracia and Elicia now, even if they don't have anything to tell us I'm sure they'll be glad to know that you're okay, Ed." Al suggested. Ed nodded and shook his head at the scene before him. Mustang had his hand pushing away Hughes' face, trying desperately to keep him from imposing his 'undying love and affection' for his young daughter on him. Ed knew for a fact that even if he went over there and tried to tear the both of them apart, he would just be the recipient of Hughes' harassment next. _Better that bastard than me, right?_ Ed thought, secretly amused at the oddball friendship between those two.

"We're going to Hughes' house, thanks for the help!" Ed yelled loudly over the noise of his superiors fighting in the background. He waved a hand over his head as he turned away from Hughes and Mustang and started to walk away from the two of them, signalling for Al to follow him.

It was quite a long walk to Hughes' house, so in between the occasional chat with Al, Ed was quite happy to just watch all of the happy people around him. They were all laughing and going about their normal lives, they were totally unaware that someone very dangerous may be walking amongst them. Or even right next to them. The thought of his attackers hurting anyone else brought a sick feeling to his stomach. Al observed as Ed face suddenly became even more determined somehow and his pace quickened.

Arriving on the Hughes' doorstep, Ed knocked timidly; part of him was worried that he might have been acting strange previous to ending up in hospital. But when Gracia opened the door with a look of surprise and happiness on her face, Ed relaxed a little and smiled at her. Elicia came up behind her mother and then didn't hesitate to fling her arms around Ed's leg.

"I'm glad that you're safe, Ed. Are you feeling better?" Gracia Hughes asked in a genuinely concerned voice. Ed couldn't stop himself from wondering how Hughes managed to land a beautiful wife like her. Ed crouched down and patted Elicia's head fondly. Despite the fact that Al couldn't feel temperature, he seemed to fill with warmth somehow seeing his brother smile that way.

"I'm feeling great, thanks!" Ed replied, taking his eyes off of Elicia to share his smile with Gracia. Elicia giggled constantly, even as she let go of Ed and had nothing left to be laughing about. She sped back into her home where she soon disappeared out of sight, but her giggling could still be heard from where ever she now was.

Ed and Al sat down on the sofa in the living room as Gracia floated off to make the boys some tea. When she returned with the pot, she inquired the reasoning behind their visit as she poured the hot chestnut liquid into two teacups. Al could only watch his brother drink the tea which he was sure was delicious; he himself wasn't sure whether he would ever taste Mrs. Hughes' tea or her homemade apple pie.

"Well, you see Gracia; I just wanted to ask whether I seemed a little out of character the night that it happened. I don't remember anything so it would really help." Ed explained. Gracia frowned, deep in thought, but she just confirmed what Al had already told his brother. She hadn't noticed a thing, and it was another possible lead that led to a dead end.

"I'm sorry, if I had anything more to tell you I wouldn't hesitate." Gracia said. Ed just hung his head and assured her that she shouldn't worry herself about it. After a few moments, Ed brought his head back up suspiciously; the house had grown very quiet all of a sudden. Too quiet – what was missing that had been there a few moments ago? Then it hit him, Elicia wasn't laughing anymore.

"I know where big brother went," A small voice emerged from the doorway. Ed turned around quickly to see Elicia's small hands brought up underneath her chin. She had a troubled look on her young face and she repeated quietly, "I know where big brother went."

_There we go! Chapter 3 is finished. Please review and let me know what you think again! _

_The reviews so far have been great and useful so thank you so much for those! I'll get started on Chapter 4 tomorrow morning if I can, so again please review if you have time and thanks for your support as usual ;)_

_Varishi x_


	4. Chapter 4

_A huge thank you is once again in store for my amazing reviewers! You are all so helpful and encouraging! I've returned to give you MORE as requested ;)_

_Hmmmm… Now where were we? __Ah, yes, Elicia. Enjoy guys!_

_Varishi x_

"I know where big brother went." Ed would never have expected the youngest member of the Hughes family to have a clue for him. Gracia looked just as shocked as he was; clearly Elicia hadn't said a word about this to her mother. Maybe Ed had told Elicia to be quiet about it, but that wasn't something he would do. He would never involve little Elicia in his problems, especially since she was so young. The possibilities whirled around in Ed's head and he was once again lost in his thoughts.

Gracia beckoned Elicia over to her with a concerned expression fixed on her face as though it had been chiselled into granite. Elicia climbed onto her mother's lap and then buried her head into Gracia's arm, her soft caramel coloured curls being stroked down comfortingly. Ed and Al were too speechless to question Elicia, how were they supposed to ask a child as young as her about something as serious as this anyway? They didn't want to frighten her, she had been so happy just a little earlier. It turned out that they didn't have to ask her a thing, Gracia took care of it for them. That same concerned look set on her delicate features as she turned her little daughter towards her: the distressed look didn't suit her gentle face at all.

"Where did Ed go?" Gracia asked gently. Elicia almost looked as though she flinched, and her eyes grew wide and scared like a deer trapped in fright in front of a car's headlights. The three year old opened her mouth for a moment as though she were about to tell them everything, but then instead she burst into tears. Gracia's concerned face crumbled as she watched her daughter cry and she adopted her softer nature, trying to console her with a warm embrace. Just like the one Trisha Elric would always use to console her boys, Al recalled – Ed and Al locked gazes; Elicia definitely knew something. But that something had scared her a lot and that in turn scared the Elrics.

"Gracia, I'm sorry we didn't mean to upset her. We'll just go." Al stammered awkwardly. Gracia looked up at the boys and smiled gratefully. For now, there was no use in trying to get anything out of Elicia. She was only three after all and the brothers had no intention of interrogating a three year old. It was getting dark out, so Ed decided that it was probably time to find a place to stay the night.

As Ed opened the door to leave the Hughes residence, he heard the sounds of Mustang and Hughes talking. He hesitated before opening the door fully, at first Hughes held a hand up to lay his hand on Ed's head. The gesture was usually taken by the older Elric to be an unspoken joke about his height. But at the sound of his child wailing, Hughes froze and instead shoved past the two boys and rushed inside. Ed tried to ignore the heart-breaking sound of Elicia crying and started to march out of the house, closing the door gently behind him so that he didn't cause any more of a disturbance.

"What did you do, Fullmetal?" Ed stopped abruptly in his tracks and reluctantly turned to face the Colonel. The man stood before him carried the same look on his face as he always did, serious and emotionless. But both Ed and Al knew that with Roy Mustang, the emotions were all in the eyes. If you studied them long enough you'd probably be able to figure out exactly what was on his mind. But right now, it seemed that the Colonel was still just as fixated on this case as he had been earlier in the day.

"Elicia said she knew where Ed went when he left the Hughes'. But she couldn't say it," Al explained, "She was to afraid." Ed was staring at his boots and Mustang knew that he must have been worried about Elicia, worried about what might have happened that had made her so scared. Mustang knew that there was already so much worrying Ed, and the list didn't need to be added to. So he thought of a way to distract the two.

"It's getting late. I found an inn for you two to stay in temporarily if you're interested." Mustang said sharply to wake Ed out of his daze. The older Elric didn't appreciate Colonel Bastard's so called 'kindness' he thought that Al had been mistaking it for pity. But Ed could see straight through Mustang, and he certainly didn't need his commanding officer's pity, or anyone else's for that matter. He and Al were just fine the way they were. Ed's angered thoughts must have reached his face because Mustang noticed the change. But the Colonel only wondered why Ed wasn't saying it out loud, he usually would. _Is this case really getting to him that much? _Colonel Mustang thought.

"Sure," Ed managed to squeeze out after a few seconds. He had always found it difficult to speak when his thoughts were saying something else. He gestured for Mustang, who nodded curtly in response, to lead the way. HE turned around to his younger brother and smiled faintly, "Come on, Al."

The innkeeper didn't even charge the two boys for the trouble; it appeared that he owed Colonel Bastard a favour. The Elrics were lead up to their room and Ed soon realised the toll that the day had taken on him. He had only just recovered from serious injuries after all, and he was exhausted from going this way and that. But in his mind, Ed had found a lead which hadn't yet gone cold so the day was a success in his opinion. He didn't bother to change, just flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep almost instantaneously. What else could Al do apart from watch his brother sleep and pretend that he was sleeping peacefully too?

The following morning Ed rose quickly, he usually preferred to sleep in late and annoy Mustang as much as possible. But today, he wanted to get to the bottom of this case quickly; it was a personal mission as much as it was an official one. After thinking it over whilst washing and changing, Ed thought it best to leave Elicia alone for the time being. He didn't want to push her and there was another lead that he wanted to pursue as well which would prevent him wasting his time. It was about time that Ed settled his bad feeling about the man who rescued him. It was about time to pay Tyke Goodman a visit.

Heading downstairs, Colonel Mustang was already there accompanied by his Lieutenant, Hawkeye. They had been there for a few hours waiting for the two Elrics so that they could also help in the investigation. For once, Mustang wanted to hear what Ed had to report and receive orders, rather than give them. Usually Ed would take advantage of the situation and make things as awkward for the Colonel as possible, but there was something about this case that was telling him to find his attackers and find them quick. So rather than waste his time, Ed got straight to the point.

"Al and I are going to visit Tyke Goodman today," Ed began. The Colonel's eyebrows rose in surprise and Hawkeye switched her expression quickly to one of confusion. Ed knew that he had better elaborate, he had already filled Al in on the details, but if his superiors were going to help then they needed the details too, "Something about him bothers me. He was out on a weekend really late on an emergency call. But there was no evidence of emergency construction and I don't think I know any maintenance workers loyal enough to work at such a ridiculous time. So it just seems worth at least settling my mind."

"You really think he's involved somehow?" Mustang demanded, almost protectively. Ed made a face to show that really the more he thought about it the more unsure he became. But as long as the possibility was there, Ed considered it worth looking in to.

"I think that his story is weird," Ed cleared up. Mustang frowned, but he was concealing the fact that he was actually proud that the blonde was so determined that he was willing to consider any possibility, "And I don't like weird. Either way, I'm going to have to know what Elicia knows sometime. So I was thinking that you and the Lieutenant could make your way to the Hughes'?"

"Good luck, we'll send word if Elicia wants to talk." The Colonel said. Al and Hawkeye were watching the two in awe. They hadn't argued once, no jokes had been made about height. There was nothing unprofessional about the conversation which had just taken place, Mustang was semi-understandable. But Ed? The younger Elric began to wonder if his brother was really okay with working this case.

After being handed the file giving the address and description of Tyke Goodman, Ed and Al headed off to go and see this Tyke Goodman themselves in person. They arrived at the front door to an average looking house, quite small, to the south east of Central. So he wasn't out of place for his work, at least something made perfect sense. The door was opened and an average looking man stood before them. Usually, with the other people Ed had dealt with in his time there was always something that stood out about a criminal. But this man was completely normal looking, he was a classic Amestrian.

"Mr. Goodman?" Al asked. The man nodded without saying anything and then smiled a little, lifting his lips at the corners slowly. Ed cocked his head to the side, his face was definitely familiar. As his brother was studying the man's appearance in search of any sort of memory, Al continued, "We just want to ask some questions, do you mind?"

"Not at all," Tyke Goodman replied, with that same structured smile that looked practised. Goodman looked directly as Ed intensely, "I remember the boy well. I see all sorts of nasty things down in the sewers, but it's quite rare to happen across a boy."

The Elrics were invited into Goodman's house; it really was the most typical household. It was tidy, but there were a few toys lying around so it wasn't pristine. The decorations seemed to be slightly feminine, the guy had a family. Typical, average Amestrian. Ed felt more at ease already, even if the middle-aged man seemed a little awkward around people. Ed and Al themselves were awkward around people, so they could hardly judge another who was similar to themselves.

"Really, I just wanted to know what kind of emergency takes a family man like yourself out in the middle of the night on a weekend?" The older Elric wasted no time in getting down to what he wanted to know. The bright lights in Goodman's house were giving him a headache and he wanted to leave before it got any worse. Tyke didn't seem frustrated that his story was being doubted; in fact if anything he seemed too calm. Al was starting to feel uneasy under Goodman's gaze. He seemed too average, his smile was too structured. Ed now had a headache and he was starting to wish he had slept in that morning after all; he closed his eyes to shut out the bright lighting.

"Well you see boys, I got a call from the company I work for and there was a small leakage in the system," Goodman explained, a strange grin started to cover his face. _He doesn't look so average anymore,_ Al thought. Ed's eyes snapped open, he had definitely heard that line before and he knew what came next too so he said it along with Goodman, "And when there's the tiniest leak, it can turn into a flood and get out of control."

"Precisely." Goodman said, keeping his eyes focused intently on Ed. The pressure that had been building in the older brother's skull now had gotten to the point where there was a pain that was difficult to bear. Al looked down at his brother who was now gritting his teeth and cradling his head in his hands, his eyes squeezed shut against the pain. Ed got to his feet and walked a few steps towards the door before falling down onto his knees and squeezing his jaw together even harder than before.

"Brother! What's wrong?" Al scooted hastily to Ed's side and put a hand on his back. Images of Goodman that night flashed through Ed's head. He was there that night, Goodman _had_ been there. But he wasn't just the one who called the hospital, he was there _all along_. But why? None of these fleeting memories told Ed why he was there, was he an attacker? How was he involved? "Pull yourself together, Ed! What's the matter?"

Al flung the front door open trying to get his brother some fresh air, but instead he was met with Riza Hawkeye with her fist raised and ready to knock on the door, "Al? Mustang's sent for you two." Hawkeye said with a homely smile on her lips. It was only then that she realised the chaos inside Goodman's house, "Ed?"

The pressure wouldn't stop building; it was making the pain worse and worse. But at least Ed knew now that he was right to be suspicious. Goodman was there, but during the whole thing. Whilst grasping his head firmly in his hands in an attempt to stop it spinning, Ed tried to warn Al that Goodman needed to be taken into custody. But he couldn't speak; he couldn't move a muscle because the pain in his head was so intense by this time that he could no longer even hear his brother's worried voice. He didn't even notice that Hawkeye had arrived with the news that Elicia was ready to talk.

Al watched in horror as his brother's pained face disappeared and his body went limp. Ed fell onto his front, an echoing _crack_ on the floor as his automail arm fell next to his face.

"Brother!"

_There, chapter 4! So now you know, Goodman's involved somehow. But how, dear readers? Oh dear, I'm having way too much fun with this aren't I?_

_Please review and let me know if the story is still interesting and should keep going!_

_Thanks for everything guys, I'll be back before you know it!_

_Varishi x_


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated for a little while, I'm on holiday in England with some friends! I'm at an advantage here because I'm the only one who speaks English properly ;)_

_Anyways, we've been so busy exploring England – BEAUTIFUL BY THE WAY – that my writing schedule was totally thrown off! So now that I've gotten used to the time difference over here, I've decided to continue writing in the evenings when I'm back in my cosy hotel room!_

_I'm going to have to look back at the previous chapters to remember exactly where I was… Oh well! Please enjoy this next chapter!_

_Varishi x_

"Ed! Hey, wake up!" The voice seemed a long way away, but when Ed managed to open his eyes groggily he saw both Hawkeye and Al's faces staring down at him. His head cleared almost instantly and he bolted upright, he noticed when he fell off of a smooth leather seat that he was in a car. Probably heading _away_ from Tyke Goodman's house at that moment: Hawkeye pulled him gently back up onto the seat.

"Where's Goodman?" Ed shouted. He hadn't meant to startle anyone, but Hawkeye flinched at the sound of desperation in the child's voice. Even Al hadn't expected the swift recovery; after all he knew that Ed – no matter how invincible he may have seemed to others – had his limits. The giant suit of armour laid a calming hand on his older brother's back and then nodded at Hawkeye to explain everything that was happening right now. Hawkeye always seemed to be able to talk in such a voice that disciplined Ed into listening to her at the same time as settling him.

"After you fainted we got you into the car, we were going to take you to the hospital but it seems that it's unnecessary. Al said that Goodman hadn't done anything wrong, so we left him where he was." Hawkeye explained in a steady voice. Her eyes hadn't left Ed's for a moment whilst she was explaining and as she watched the older Elric's eyes widen in disbelief as she proceeded to tell him everything she knew that something was wrong. Ed knew something the rest of them didn't.

"No way," Ed whispered. Goodman had been _there._ He was involved somehow, Ed wasn't so sure exactly how he was involved but it wasn't definitely not in a good way. Ed raised his voice again, "Turn the car around he has to be arrested!"

The driver looked at Hawkeye through his rear view mirror and she nodded at him, signalling that the driver should go back to Tyke Goodman's house and get there _fast._ The car quickly turned around, making a U-turn skilfully, tyres squealing in protest as the heavy vehicle was forced into motion. Immediately after the turn Al grabbed his brother's arm and demanded to know what was happening.

"I remembered something," Ed began, with that simple statement the young boy immediately had everyone's attention. Ed remembered the flashes of Goodman's face, entering the sewers and in the water down there. Goodman had definitely been there during the fight, but Ed still didn't know how he was involved exactly. But with questioning, Ed could learn all of that and maybe recover some more of his memory too. Continuing Ed looked at his brother, "It's only flashes, but Goodman was there during the fight. His story of coming across me later after everything had happened is definitely a lie, but I don't know what exactly happened yet."

"Wait, so you mean Goodman might have been the one attacking you?" Hawkeye clarified. Ed gave a short nod and glanced out of the window to see how far they were from Goodman's house. He recognised the area and at the speed that car was going Ed knew that they would probably arrive in a few short minutes.

"I don't really know for sure. But he was definitely there during the fight. I don't remember whether he was just watching and avoiding me, or whether he was directly in contact with me though. Whatever he was doing, he had something to do with this!" Ed remarked. The spark of determination in his eye had been reignited again. Al could see his older brother getting excited to gain some answers at last. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way.

The Elrics had stormed into Goodman's house, on guard the entire time just in case Goodman tried to fight his way out. The brothers roamed upstairs to search everything thoroughly, even making sure to check the attic, whilst Hawkeye searched the downstairs rooms. But as they searched the house, they discovered that the area was totally abandoned. Goodman had run for it. Ed punched his automail arm against the wall roughly, cursing under his breath. Hawkeye in the mean time ventured into the surrounding land around the house to discover some sort of sign which might suggest which direction he had gone in.

"Maybe we should rethink this." Al suggested quietly. He hadn't expected his brother to accept his proposal but Ed nodded and stared at the ground to decide the most effective course of action. After knowing what he wanted to do next, Ed clumped heavily down the staircase to meet up with Hawkeye who was just making her way back into the building after her brief search.

"Looks like you were right, Edward. He wouldn't have fled like this unless he was guilty of something," Hawkeye noted. Ed nodded, his determination completely intact despite the loss of his best lead yet. Ed seemed to know that Hawkeye had found something else that she wasn't telling him yet, and so he had provided a silence to prompt Hawkeye to give Ed any evidence she may have found, "There's a few track marks going through the grass behind the house. So I think he's gone south and he might be trying to get out of Central."

"South… We should go after him Brother! Come on, let's go!" Alphonse called, he stared to thud away towards the back of the house but Ed stayed put. Sticking an arm out, Ed grabbed hold of his younger brother and jerked him to a stop.

"No. It would be better if we stayed here in Central, Al," Ed insisted, "We'll send others after Goodman, but we need to continue looking for others who may have been involved. Those memories have made me think that this might be bigger than we thought." Ed muttered that last sentence under his breath quietly, but both Al and Hawkeye had heard him loud and clear.

"What do you mean 'bigger', Ed?" Al asked innocently. Ed shook his head and grinned a big grin, telling Alphonse not to worry about it for now. It was that grin which worried Hawkeye and Al, because they both knew that Ed only used that particular smile to protect Alphonse. The fact that Ed thought that Al needed protecting right now lead Hawkeye to believe that maybe Ed was right. Maybe something was going on here that was bigger than even the infamous Elric brothers could handle.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye?" Ed inquired, not only to ask a follow up question but also to regain her attention. It seemed that she had drifted deep into her own thoughts. She brought her eyes back to meet Ed's and straightened up again, "Could you call in and get some sort of team to go after Goodman? I think Al and I should go and see what exactly Elicia has to tell us."

"I'll do that. You boys take the car, and report to Mustang for me, he'll send me some men. Tell him that I'll meet them at the south most point of Central, and if I'm not there, the train station, got it?" Hawkeye instructed firmly. Al nodded his head frantically, secretly admiring her determination which rivalled even that of his brother's. The Elrics watched as she turned and started to run south out of the back of the building.

Ed and Al climbed into the car and explained everything before demanding to be taken to the Hughes' residence once more. The driver nodded in a daze and then sighed as he turned on the engine as though the whole world were placing their problems upon his old frail shoulders. As the car began to rumble down the road towards the Hughes residence, Al stared over at his brother who was watching the buildings go by out of the car window. Ed seemed troubled in a different way to before; since those memories appeared he looked as though he had figured something out that he didn't want his younger brother to know. _Why do you always have to carry the burden, Ed?_ Alphonse asked himself, _Why can't you rely on me from time to time?_

Ed knew that Al had noticed. How could Al _not_ notice that something was getting at him? The truth was that Ed had begun to suspect something that hadn't crossed his mind before these memories came about. He hoped to confirm his new theory as soon as possible. But maybe, just maybe, it wasn't _him_ that his attackers had been after. Goodman had been there through the whole fight, he had established that, and it was clear that Ed was completely at Goodman's mercy. So why wasn't he killed? It had been bothering Ed since he had woken up in Colonel Mustang's car. Now he stared out of the car's window, watching the world go by as he wondered exactly what he had gotten himself and his little brother into.

The car pulled up outside Lieutenant Colonel Hughes' home and the brothers clambered out of the car, stopping only to say a brief thanks to the driver. They approached the front door and Ed paused before knocking on the door, remembering poor Elicia's tears as she remembered something unpleasant. He really didn't want to make such a young innocent girl go through that again. And especially not for _his _sake. Seeing his brother's hesitation, Al knocked on the door instead. He knew that Ed didn't want to make Elicia cry again, Al didn't want to see it either. But Al also wanted to get this case, and Ed's suffering, over with.

Colonel Mustang opened the door and scanned his eyes over the two boys, noticing immediately the absence of his Lieutenant, "Where's Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"Yeah, about that, something happened in between all of this. It turns out that Goodman is involved with what happened to Ed." Al explained nervously. Ed remained silent, and Al knew that he was still thinking about whatever it was that was on his mind right now. Knowing that Ed was in some way relying on him right now, Al continued, "She told us to ask you to send some men to the south most point of Central, and if she's not there, the train station. Goodman ran and she's trying to track him down to bring him in."

"Right," Colonel Mustang confirmed. He was about to turn around when he noticed that Ed hadn't spoken a word at all to him. He hadn't even called him a bastard yet, "Fullmetal, go inside and talk to Elicia, it's getting late."

Ed jumped at the sound of his state alchemist title. He met the Colonel's eyes and instead of questioning him he simply nodded and walked through the doorway. Mustang walked over to the house's phone to contact headquarters while Ed followed the sound of Hughes' voice to where he was laying sprawled across the floor with Elicia giggling next to him. Gracia greeted the brothers and the moment Elicia saw the boys she climbed to her feet unsteadily and ran to them. She hugged Alphonse's leg before jumping at Ed who caught her with a gentle smile on his face.

Hughes knew exactly why the boys were there now, he had gotten the whole story from Gracia and Mustang when they had left to go and check out Tyke Goodman and his story. So when the brothers sat themselves down on a sofa, Hughes picked Elicia off of Edward's lap and sat her on his instead. Hughes patted her head before asking, "So what is it you want to tell Ed and Al?"

Elicia shuffled around on her father's lap, she almost looked as though she was about to get all worked up and upset again, but instead a small innocent smile touched her tiny lips and she began to speak. She looked as though she was completely at home and felt totally safe in Hughes' arms. Watching the two of them, Ed briefly recalled his own father and how good things used to be between them before he left unexpectedly.

"It was when Ed and Al came for a sleepover!" Elicia began enthusiastically, "We all went to bed but I needed to go potty. I heard a scary noise, but it was only Alphonse in the kitchen." Elicia had begun to swing her legs as she sat in her father's lap. Elicia was watching Ed intently the entire time she was speaking and it almost made Ed feel uncomfortable. She was observing him as though he wasn't real, or maybe like he was a wild animal she's never seen before.

"I remembered to wash my hands!" Elicia said, closing her eyes and smiling big as though she was proud of that. Hughes grinned and tousled her hair telling her that she was such a good girl. Elicia seemed as though she was going to be fine, but then Ed noticed how her expression suddenly darkened, "I was tired so I went to my room, but there was a scary lady there. She was stood by my window. Mummy said to never talk to strangers and if a stranger ever got too close to me I had to find the closest person to me who I could trust." Hearing about the intruder into their supposedly safe home from their own daughter's lips horrified Gracia and Maes Hughes. Maes Hughes almost looked sick at the thought of some strange woman in his house, in his _daughter's_ room. Hughes tightened his grip on the three year old protectively.

"Ed and Al sleep right next door to me so I woke up Ed and told him that there was a scary lady in my room." Elicia said. Ed's eyes widened, Elicia really _did_ know how this had all started. He was shocked and was at the same time thankful that he could finally know where this all started, "Ed held my hand and went to tell the scary lady to go away, but when he saw her he got scared too. Ed told me to hide in my bestest hiding spot and not come out until he got the scary lady to go away. So I hid and waited."

Al watched his brother as he took in the news. Ed looked equally as horrified as Hughes if not more. Colonel Mustang had long since finished his phone call and upon hearing this had a thunderous expression fixed on his face. Al knew that whoever that intruder was, she was in trouble because not only had she threatened the family of one of Ed's best friends, she had threatened Mustang's best friend too: Ed and Mustang were a deadly duo when they got angry.

"I thought that Ed might wake Mummy and Daddy up with all the noise, but Mummy and Daddy never came. I heard the scary lady tell Ed that he wasn't supposed to be here, but Ed was supposed to be here, Mummy and Daddy invited him. I told the scary lady so because I thought she was being really rude to Ed," Elicia continued. Gracia had began to cry silent tears as she listened to her three year old daughter describe the details of an event that could easily have ended in utter disaster, "The scary lady picked me up and shook me, she hurt me shoulder on purpose and made Ed really really angry. Then Ed was rude to her and said naughty words that Mummy says I should never use and he made the scary lady let me go."

"Then the scary lady told me that it was all a secret and if I told Mummy and Daddy she would have to come back again. I really didn't like the scary lady and didn't want her to come back so I didn't tell. Then the scary lady grabbed Ed and jumped out of the window then but they didn't tell me when they would be back so I went to see where they were going." Elicia spoke completely oblivious of what had happened. Ed listened, not able at all to recall any of the things that Elicia was saying, but he was still completely horrified, "I watched the scary lady open the circle door outside my window on the ground and then she kicked Ed and made him fall in. But before Ed went he told me to promise to lock my window really tight. So I did. Then I couldn't sleep so I drew some pictures."

Elicia took in a large breath after all of the talking and smiled around at everyone. But only Gracia managed a tearful fake smile back at her. Ed and Al were both in complete shock, of all of the things they thought Elicia may have told them. It was definitely nothing like this that they were expecting. But the Elrics were both thinking along the same lines, Tyke Goodman wasn't where this had started then. Elicia was talking about a woman, so exactly how many people were involved in this?

At least now everyone knew how and roughly when the older Elric had found himself in the sewers. They knew where to look next, but something was disturbing Ed more. Elicia's room was on the third floor of the house, and nobody, no matter how skilled, could climb that sheer smooth surface to her bedroom window. So how exactly had the intruder managed to get into Elicia's room in the first place? But there was something else, Elicia had noticed that whoever the mystery woman was had not expected the Elric brothers to be there, so just who was the real target? It had to be a member of the Hughes family.

From Elicia's words, everyone in that room – Elicia the only exception – had worked out who the target must have been in reality, _Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes._

_There we are! Sorry about the slow update again, they may be slower for a while whilst I'm in England! But there you have it. Another piece of the mystery uncovered, we've finally learned what Elicia had to say too. _

_Anyways, review and please tell me what you think!_

_Varishi x_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hello again guys, I'm trying my best to keep the updates as frequent as possible so that I don't leave you hanging! Please bear with me!_

_Also, about the spelling of 'Elicia', I've noticed that a lot of people spell it 'Elysia'. In my manga it's spelled 'Elicia' so I've been sticking with that spelling. Sorry if that's causing anyone any confusion ;)_

_Thanks for the great reviews and support, love you all!_

_Varishi x_

After listening to Elicia's shocking story through and through, everyone who had listened was so completely terrified that they couldn't move a muscle. It was only when a shiver ran through Al's armour noisily that Ed snapped out of it and blinked hard. Mustang's whole body had gone cold; he had figured out that if the attackers weren't there for Ed, they were definitely there for Maes. Gracia was no fool either, she had figured out the exact same thing. Elicia looked around at the room of blank expressions gawping at her, petrified.

"Is the scary lady going to come back because I told, big brother?" Elicia asked Ed innocently. Ed had already started to think about the identity of this mysterious woman and what exactly Hughes could be up to that would make someone want to assassinate him. In his own_ home_ of all places. But at the young girl's question, Ed forced a smile onto his face.

"Of course not! We won't let that happen, you're safe here." Ed assured her in a shaky voice. Everything that the older Elric has just said was a complete lie and he knew it. If someone had managed to get in completely undetected once, they could definitely do it again. It had been a week since the first attack, why had no one tried again? Ed stood up suddenly, causing the others in the room to flinch out of their own dark thoughts, "It's getting late isn't it, Elicia?"

Elicia nodded her head vigorously whilst Ed looked at Gracia meaningfully. Although Gracia wanted to stay behind and discuss what had just been said with the others, she caught Ed's drift. Ed wanted little Elicia to remain ignorant of the danger her father was in. Luckily it was way past the three year olds bed time now and Gracia had the perfect excuse to get Elicia out of the room and out of earshot. Taking her daughter's hand, Gracia led her out of the room with an anxious glance at her husband over her shoulder as she left.

"Hughes…" Ed started. He couldn't stop the concern from flooding into his voice as he turned to look at Hughes who was still sat cross legged on the floor, staring at his knees. Mustang held a hand up as though commanding Ed to stop right there. Ed held his tongue from going any further and looked over at his little brother who had his helmet facing straight ahead, as though he was still in a state of shock.

"I know, I know." Hughes replied. "I had no idea at all. If it wasn't for you, Ed, my daughter… Gracia… It could have all been gone." As he spoke his face held an expression on it that the Elrics had never seen before. It was fear, and that was an emotion that Hughes had only really felt a few times in his lifetime. Still being the only one stood, Ed decided to take control once more and get to discussing this in more depth.

"Listen, get yourselves together. We have bigger worries right now, let's go to the study." Ed demanded. He had been slightly harsh in his words, but if they were going to ensure the safety of the Hughes family then they needed to discuss what had just been uncovered in more depth. They had just found out that this had more to do with Maes than it did with Ed, and if they had discovered that any later then this case could have turned out bloodier than any of them wanted.

After assembling around a table in Hughes' study, Mustang took control of the others. He knew that being the highest ranking officer there and the one who assigned the case to the Elrics, he should really be the one who decided their next course of action. Or at least helped to calm everyone down. Mustang kept a close eye on Hughes as he began to discuss what their next move should be, "Well, I think the main priority right now is to get the Lieutenant Colonel and his family out of this house and somewhere safe with guards until we've resolved this."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Ed confirmed when his superior officer looked at him almost as though he was seeking approval, "There's something we need to know before we go any further with this though, Hughes. Were you doing anything that might prompt someone to consider you a threat? Were you looking into anything with the investigations department that seemed a little strange?"

"N…No. Even if I was looking into something, nobody would know because they can't get into the records unless I write them off for permission." Hughes replied hesitantly. Mustang could tell from his tone of voice that he was still worried about his little girl and his wife. Mustang mentally urged Ed to get the uncomfortable questions out of the way so that they could move Gracia and Elicia somewhere safe and set Maes' mind at rest. It seemed that Ed had heard him, because he didn't ask Hughes any further questions that weren't about his family's safety.

"Okay, I think it's safe to say that if anyone wanted to get to you, it wasn't because you were snooping around in something you shouldn't. So it's got to be something else," Ed mused to himself, "Is there anywhere that you can go with your family that's safer?"

"He can go and stay in headquarters with them, there isn't a safer place than that." Mustang suggested. Hughes looked up at the two of them and then hardened his eyes before nodding. He knew that his family wouldn't be comfortable staying at the headquarters for a while, but he had to think of their safety, and his own. As Al looked at his older brother taking charge of everything so easily, he wondered why he couldn't do the same. Al always seemed to just let Ed take in everyone's stress at times like these, he couldn't begin to imagine how stressed the older Elric was at that moment. The suit of armour wanted to share the trouble with Ed, but he just couldn't bring himself to step in. He was glued where he was.

"That's a good idea," Ed commented. Hughes didn't seem to have a say in the matter, but he couldn't think straight either way. He was still replaying what his daughter had told him in his head, "You can be guarded there until we're sure we've resolved this. Al and I will keep working on this case until we get to the bottom of it, you just stay with your family."

"You can deal me in too," Mustang announced, "I'll continued investigating this case too seeing how I've already managed to get my Lieutenant and most of my other men involved." Ed looked at his superior officer, somehow he looked different. He wasn't being a bastard for a start, he wasn't being self-centred. Rather the opposite, actually, Mustang was sticking his neck out for Hughes. Even though he wouldn't say it out loud, Ed was glad to have the extra help, no matter who it was from.

"Fine. I'll call for a car and move my family out tonight so you don't have to worry about guarding the house, but I'm not going to sit on my hands and wait for you to handle this," Hughes insisted. He stood up and started to walk out of the room before turning around when he reached the doorway between the hallway and the study, "I'll try to dig up some information on the background of Tyke Goodman. I'll send word if I find anything significant."

It was already late and dark outside, so the Elrics and the Colonel waited for the car to take the Hughes family back to headquarters before heading back to where they were staying themselves. They breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the Lieutenant Colonel and his family disappear out of sight in the capable – and more importantly – safe hands of Major Armstrong. The three remaining knew they Armstrong would soon be in contact to question them about what exactly was going on, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

Ed, Al and the Colonel headed back to where the Elric brothers were staying. When they arrived after another long day, Mustang made the decision to stay in a room close to the Elrics rather than go back to headquarters so that it would be easier to meet up with them the next day. Mustang flopped down on his bed and fell asleep quickly; the stress that he was feeling hardly affected his sleep at all. But the Elrics were having a harder time.

Alphonse couldn't sleep anyway, so he usually spent his nights thinking, reading, doing just about anything to occupy himself for the next eight to twelve hours. Unlike the previous night, when Ed flopped back onto his bed, he couldn't sleep at all. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him, someone other than his concerned younger brother. The thought of that same 'scary lady' that had been in Elicia's room a week ago maybe watching him right then sent a shiver rattling down his spine. In response, after an hour or two of being still, unable to shake the feeling of being silently observed, Ed got out of bed and locked the only window in the room tight before returning to bed. As Al watched his brother attempt to sleep, he could tell that Ed wasn't going to have a satisfactory amount of rest.

The next morning, Ed woke up aching all over. He hadn't been able to get a decent amount of sleep and he could already tell that he was going to be slower than usual that day. He sat up and rotated his shoulders, trying to loosen them up before getting out of bed. Al felt sorry for his brother as he watched the irritated and stressed expression cross his face time and time again as he whizzed around the room washing and dressing. Mustang had slept through the entire night, but he didn't feel rested at all. It had seemed that the moment he had closed his eyes he had been thrown into some sort of nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. It was only when he was harshly jerked out of his deep sleep by Ed's automail fist thumping on the door irritably that he was able to escape his nightmare.

"Hey Colonel, get up we want to go!" Ed's voice emerged from behind the door and Mustang sat up wearily. He heard the sound of the boys' footsteps heading away from his room before he got up and shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the remnants of his horrid dream. He had dreamt of the mysterious woman in Elicia's room, looming over the small piece of sunshine, like an owl watching a mouse, before extinguishing the golden glow, plunging the entire room into darkness. Mustang pulled on his uniform before staring at his tired-looking reflection in the mirror. He sighed and then exited his room to meet the Elrics downstairs.

"Colonel Bastard, we want to go and look over the area underneath Elicia's window to see how the intruder could've gotten in. Then we're going to look at the entrance to the sewers that Elicia was talking about." Ed said. Yesterday, the kid had been looking at Mustang like he had finally grown to like the older man. But Mustang should've known better, the brat was still exactly that. A brat.

"Good morning, Colonel." Al squeaked, attempting to cover up his brother's obvious bad mood this morning and his rudeness. Mustang simply nodded in Al's direction and sat down opposite the two boys. They ate quickly and in silence, nobody really felt like talking to each other this morning. Both Mustang and Ed were in a terrible mood after an awful night's sleep, but Al knew that Ed would feel better as the day went on. He wasn't so sure about Mustang though, somehow Al could have thought that in between then and the last time the brothers had seen him yesterday that Mustang had witnessed something terrible. Al realised what must've happened shortly after thinking it through, _He had a bad dream._

After finishing everything on their plates, Mustang and Ed left the inn immediately and sped off towards the Hughes household again. Al had to run to catch up with them they had left so fast. After arriving, the three alchemists explored the perimeter of the house to find the wall that would be beneath Elicia's window and they all stared at it intently. It was literally a sheer drop, there didn't appear to be any way to get in. Mustang squinted against the brightness of the sun to look towards the top of the building to see if there was some sort of ladder that they were missing, but there was nothing. It was just a wall.

At least, that's what Al and Mustang thought. Ed squinted at the brickwork some more. There was a faint strip below Elicia's window of discoloured brickwork. There was a clear distinctive stripe going down the building below Elicia's window. Ed walked up to the wall and laid a hand on it, what he had previously suspected he now knew for sure was the truth. Alchemy had been used on the wall; it was almost undetectable, _almost._ Not only was there a faint stripe in the wall, but the alchemist who had returned the wall to normal had failed to notice the thin coat of paint that had been used on the rest of the house's brickwork. But these bricks had no paint.

"She was an alchemist." Ed stated in shock.

_Sorry I killed your suspicions of homunculi being involved, guys. They could still be involved, but the intruder in Elicia's room was an alchemist, so just who is she!?_

_Anyways, I'm tired. It's something like seven in the morning Japan time and yet ten in the evening here in England? What is this!? England's pretty and all, but I think I want to go back to my own time now… I SOUND LIKE A TIME TRAVELLER! :D_

_As always, please review and tell me what's happening in your heads ;)_

_Hopefully the next chapter will be a little livelier; this was more of a processing chapter! Next one's up soon._

_GOODNIGHT WORLD._

_Varishi x_


	7. Chapter 7

_Hey guys! Thanks again for the great reviews it's always great to hear from you all!_

_Anyway, I'm trying my best to keep on top of things, but I'm trying to pack as much fun into my visit in England until I have to return home! But anyway, here, have a new chapter!_

_Please read, enjoy, and review as always!_

_Love you all,_

_Varishi x_

"An alchemist? Why would an alchemist want to kill Lieutenant Colonel Hughes?" Al asked with dismay leaking into his voice. Mustang scratched his cheek, it didn't make any sense, and the only alchemists that Hughes had any contact with were state alchemists. Letting out an almighty sigh Mustang knew that this entire investigation would be a lot quicker if the little brat would just remember everything. In the mean time, Al racked his brain for any reason that an ordinary alchemist might attack military personnel. Especially going to the trouble of finding out where Hughes lived; there must have been an easier place to get to him.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything about that woman? Nothing at all?" Mustang asked. Ed simply shook his head, he seemed annoyed at himself. But it wasn't his fault that he couldn't remember. Ed backed away from the wall again; they had established how the intruder had gotten in, now they needed to find out where that woman went. Ed walked past Mustang and Al, heading straight towards the entrance to the sewers that Elicia was talking about. It made sense that they were taken down to the sewers, there could be no witnesses down there and it was obvious that the woman Elicia had spoken about knew this.

"I think if I saw her I would remember, like I did with Goodman. Maybe checking out this entrance will help, I never asked Hughes how far back he had searched but I would have thought they'd have already looked at this area. But you never know he didn't have any alchemists on his search team," Ed explained matter-of-factly as he pulled the circular lid away from the hole in the ground. A foul smell that forced both Ed and Mustang to wrinkle their noses in disgust drifted out of the sewer, "Did it always smell that bad?"

"It wasn't as bad as this a few days ago when you turned up in hospital and I went to look at the scene with Hughes." Mustang moaned with a hand over his nose and mouth. The thought of having to climb down that ladder to where the stench was probably even worse nauseated both Mustang and Ed. Ironically, the only one of them who couldn't smell would have to stay on the surface because once again this ladder was made from steel and was hollow; it wouldn't be able to take his weight. The last time Ed had visited the sewers just a couple of days ago it hadn't stank nearly as bad, his eyes narrowed in disgust at the thought of climbing closer towards the smell.

"Hey Al, make sure everybody knows there's a hole here now, okay? We wouldn't want anyone getting hurt." Ed told his younger brother authoritatively. In reality, Ed didn't want Al to be embarrassed in front of the Colonel because the ladder couldn't take his weight. So even though Al wanted to accompany his big brother and help in any way he could, he knew that Ed was just trying to protect him. After all, if the ladder broke and Al fell down the hole, he could land in the water and wash off his blood seal. So instead of arguing to go with the others, Al simply nodded miserably and stood watch over the hole as he listened to Mustang and Ed descend to the sewers.

Once at the bottom, Ed felt a horrible sense of déjà vu, he had definitely been here before. But there was a sense of sadness that was etched into Ed's broken memory. Mustang dropped down from the last few steps and landed lightly behind Ed, and sharing a quick glance the two headed off in the direction of where Ed had been found over a week beforehand. Mustang's eyes swept the ground and the ceiling for anything that Hughes' men might have missed. But it was unlikely that the investigations department would make such a crude mistake. Meanwhile, Ed was scanning not only the ground, but the stinking water and the walls surrounding them. Everything was run before Ed's critical eyes. So naturally, it wasn't long before the young prodigy spotted something.

"Colonel," He came to an abrupt halt and held a hand up to signal for Mustang to do the same. Mustang stopped although he would have preferred to keep going and get out of the dank space as quickly as possible. The smell at the bottom of the ladder had been impressively repulsive, but the sickening smell was heightened times a billion where they now stood. It was enough to almost make his eyes water. But Ed squinted at the wall in the water; if he wanted to go in and investigate he would have to get into the putrid water. Ed cocked his head to the side and pointed at an area of the wall directly in front of where he had turned to face, "Does that wall look irregular to the rest of this to you?"

Mustang copied Ed's earlier actions and squinted at where the young boy was now pointing. They were in a dark space and hadn't bothered to take that into account before they went down, Mustang couldn't even light it up with fire. With all of the methane in the sewer's air the whole place would be up in flames and both Ed and himself would be toasted to a crisp. But Mustang could see what Ed had meant. The wall seemed to be seamless from where they were standing; it didn't look as though there were any cracks in the bricks. Mustang averted his eyes in defeat before looking back at Ed with a small smirk on his face, "I can't tell. You'll have to get in if you want to investigate it further."

"Are you kidding me?" Ed protested. Mustang looked at the water giddily, there was definitely no way _he_ was going to get in that water. As Mustang watched Ed's face he saw the blonde pale and look at the water in defeat, "Well _I'm_ not going to dismiss this just because Colonel Bastard is being a princess."

With that, Ed gulped and stared hard at the brown liquid running down the long tunnel into darkness and without another thought jumped into the water. Mustang's eyes almost popped out of his head as he watched his subordinate. He _actually_ went in. Mustang raised his right hand to his head and saluted Ed weakly for his sheer bravery whilst the kid waded through the gross water towards the disfigured wall on the other side. Ed tried to keep his mind off of what exactly it was that he was walking around in, he just focused on getting to the wall on the other side.

Once he reached the wall, his initial thoughts were confirmed, the wall was completely seamless and was just a rough mixture of brick and cement all chucked in together. Some hasty and careless alchemy had been used there for sure, but why? Ed started to knock along the wall, starting from the ordinary brickwork before moving onto the manipulated wall. There was a slight echo behind the seamless area of the wall and he leaned back in the water, staring at the area in curiosity. Something was probably behind the wall, but what exactly would be kept in the wall of a sewer?

"Hey Colonel!" Ed called. Mustang snapped out of his state of admiration and quickly dropped his right hand back to his side so that Ed wouldn't suspect a thing and tease him for it later. Ed turned around to face Mustang before calling again, "There's something back here, I'm going to move the wall and take a look!" Mustang called back his approval and then let his eyes wander the walls around where Ed was to see if he could identify any more seamless areas which might be hollow.

Ed took a decent step back from the wall and then quickly thought through exactly what he wanted to do. He just wanted to move the seamless area of wall out of the way to reveal whatever was behind the wall. After being clear of what he was doing in his own mind, Ed clapped his gloved hands together and pressed them to the wall firmly. He told the material beneath his hands to move and felt the bricks disappear from their original positions accompanied by bright blue light as energy was given off in the reaction. Once the material was moved, Ed withdrew his hands and gawped up at what his efforts had revealed in horror. The stench that escaped the small cavity in the wall was almost unbearable, and Mustang definitely noticed.

Mustang span around quickly at the sound of a sharp yelp from the blonde and a series of loud splashed. He scanned the water for Ed, but he wasn't there anymore, he must've been knocked under the water by the three large sacks that were now floating on the water. To his relief, Ed came spluttering to the surface and he soon coughed out the liquid that had entered his mouth as he had cried out in surprise. Mustang was about to laugh, but at the petrified expression on Ed's face his smile dropped. Mustang waved his hands towards him, signalling for Ed to get out of the water now. But Ed could barely even move.

"They're… Mustang," Ed whispered, still staring at the three objects now slowly starting to float down the tunnel. Ed raised his voice a little higher when his superior officer asked, "They're bodies!"

"They're what?" Mustang shouted in disbelief. Ed's eyes remained fixed on the three bodies floating away from him, he could think of nothing else apart from what kind of beast would kill three people like that? Especially since the body which had knocked him down under the surface of the water had been that of a young girl, no older than seven years old for sure. Mustang clapped his hands loudly to snap Ed out of his daze, "Get a hold of yourself, Ed! Help me get them out of the water!"

Ed shook his head to clear away his thoughts for now and waded quickly after the quickly disappearing bodies, he clenched his hands into fists a few times before gingerly pushing the three bodies to the side of the sewage stream where Colonel Mustang hauled them out of the water. As soon as the bodies were out, Mustang stuck a hand out to help Ed out. Ed took the hand gratefully and sat staring at the bodies next to Mustang for a while before he decided to turn them over and see their faces.

Mustang turned over the body of the young girl, her eyes were still opened wide and her face was laced with terror and anguish. As Mustang turned over another body, Ed turned over the last. Ed was now staring into the face of a young woman, she was middle-aged and pretty. There was a vertical short slice going through her forehead all the way though to the back of her skull where there was another incision to match. This murder wasn't random, it was deliberate otherwise the wounds on each of the bodies wouldn't be the same. They wouldn't be so neat. Ed gritted his teeth against tears; the other body was a man so the victims he was looking at were a family.

Ed ripped his eyes from the woman to look at the last body and he jumped in shock at the face he saw. It was the face of the man Ed thought Riza Hawkeye was trying to chase down at that very moment. Ed was looking at the face of the man he had met only yesterday. He was looking at Tyke Goodman.

"That's impossible!" Ed told himself. Mustang looked up; did his subordinate know these people? At first, Ed didn't understand how Mustang wasn't as disturbed as he was, but then he remembered that Mustang had never actually _seen_ Tyke Goodman. He had only given the Elric brothers the name. Ed's confused eyes met Mustang's, "That's Tyke Goodman."

"Are you sure?" Mustang asked gripping Ed's shoulder to try and focus the kid. Ed simply nodded. There was no doubt about it; the person he was looking at was definitely Tyke Goodman. But then, who was Hawkeye chasing?

_There, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things got a little nasty, didn't they?_

_Anyway, as always please review and tell me how I'm doing ;)_

_Varishi x_


	8. Chapter 8

_Hi everyone! Time for the next chapter! We're already on 8, wow, time flies._

_Anyway, thank you as always for the reviews and please keep them coming!_

_Varishi x_

"Ed! Come on, focus Fullmetal!" Mustang urged. He tightened his grip on the older Elric's shoulder and shook him slightly. But Ed couldn't take his wide eyes off of the three bodies now lying close together, each of them killed in the same cold, calculated way. Why were the Goodmans killed? Had Ed unknowingly put Hawkeye in danger by asking her to go after who Ed had originally thought to be Tyke Goodman? None of these questions clogging up Mustang's mind could be answered whilst Ed remained as detached as he now was. But the blonde wouldn't avert his gaze from the little girl's pale, eternally frightened face.

"Hey! Brother what's going on down there?" Al's voice echoed down the tunnel from where he was on the surface. Ed's expression suddenly cleared at the sound of his younger brother's scared voice. Al had only heard silence at first as he watched out for anything that might have looked even slightly out of place. But as time went on, he had heard a few muffled shouts and began to worry that something might have gone wrong down where Ed and Colonel Mustang were investigating the sewers. So naturally Al called out for his brother, for reassurance, "Are you okay, you two?"

"We're fine, Al! We're coming back up!" Ed hollered back to his younger brother. He got to his feet with a grim expression on his face, "What about them, Colonel? We can't just leave them there like that." Mustang nodded and looked down at the three of them now lying there and back at the hole that Ed had made in the wall. The both of them had completely forgotten the disgusting smell when their senses had been completely overtaken by shock and despair. Both Ed and Mustang knew that this case was on an entirely different level now; this was a case that already had three _known_ fatalities.

"I'll wait here with them and watch over them, you go to headquarters and get the investigations department down here," Colonel Mustang ordered in his most commanding voice. He hardened his eyes as Ed stared up at him as though he couldn't figure out whether his superior officer was even human or not. Who in their right mind would be comfortable staying down here in the dark with three dead bodies? A place where a week earlier one of his subordinates had been brutally attacked? Mustang almost smiled at the unusual expression on Ed's face, one that was never usually aimed in _his _direction, was that _concern?_ The Colonel straightened up, "Fullmetal, go."

Ed wasn't happy leaving Mustang down in the sewers alone, even if he was a bastard. But he didn't want the bodies to go missing the moment they were left alone like Tyke Goodman had so he turned his back compliantly and started to run back towards the ladder. As he got closer and closer to the fresh air the top of the ladder promised Ed started to feel more and more uneasy about leaving Mustang down there alone. Regardless, the Colonel could take care of himself so Ed pushed his worries aside and proceeded to climb up the ladder where Al was waiting.

As it turned out, the investigations department was already waiting outside the hole with Alphonse, so Ed didn't have to worry about leaving Mustang alone in the dark for too long. As he emerged from the hole a few officers saluted him and then relaxed again when they saw that he was completely soaked through and was now shivering. Ed turned to his younger brother questioningly, why exactly was the investigations department already there?

"They wouldn't tell me anything; Hughes ordered them to give the information directly to either you or Colonel Mustang." Al explained. Ed nodded slightly angrily, even if Al wasn't military personnel, he had always been around and he was always involved in the cases that Ed took. So really he should be entitled to the information too. But rather than fuss over the details, Ed stepped forward and snatched the file from the officer who was holding it out to him whilst trying not to be sickened by the smell that clung to Ed after had he been in the sewage water and discovered those three bodies.

Ed flipped open the file and read the contents. Hughes had dug up Goodman's background, it seemed. So the Goodman family had only moved in two weeks ago from Rush Valley, they had no extended family and it was just the three of them. Furthermore, after getting a job with the company that maintained the sewage lines in the Central area, Goodman never turned up for a single days work. Everything in the file was consistent with the bodies that Ed and Mustang had only just uncovered. Ed looked at the names of his family sadly; his wife Cassandra and young six year old daughter Millie were perfectly average law-abiding people. His eyes stared at the photos of the three of them together smiling and had to fight tears again.

"I don't need any of this information. We found the Goodmans down there in the sewer," Ed said handing the file back to the person who had handed it to him whilst looking down at the ground. Al had previously been looking down the hole wondering why Colonel Mustang hadn't climbed back up yet, he had been the one most hesitant to even go down there in the first place after all. But when he heard Ed state that they had found the Goodmans his head perked up and he listened closer, "All three of them are dead down there."

"But then, Brother who did we send Lieutenant Hawkeye after?" Al squeaked. Ed had been thinking about that since he had seen Tyke's body. There was only one person – or rather thing – that he knew of who could take another's shape like that. Was it really possible that the homunculi would get involved in things other than their ongoing endeavour to return themselves to humans?

"Al, I think this case had just gotten that much more complicated." Ed said pinching his nose and sighing heavily. Al was about to say something else, but Ed sent him a silencing look that let him know that the investigations department didn't need to know this. Al knew that if the investigations department didn't hear anything, then Hughes wouldn't hear it either and Hughes wouldn't feel the need to leave the place where he was safest to help the Elrics and the Colonel. Ed signalled for the investigation officers to follow him towards the entrance to the sewer.

"Colonel Mustang's waiting by three bodies down there, he'll tell you what to do when you get there," Ed said tiredly. The stress over the past few days had been building up and joined with his bad night's sleep the previous night he was feeling terrible. Ed let out a large yawn and then pointed at the person descending the ladder first, "Oh yeah, and tell Mustang to come and meet me and Al back here, okay?"

Ed knew that another restless night was in store for him, it wasn't likely that he could uncover three dead bodies stuffed into the wall of a sewage tunnel and still sleep peacefully. Whilst the image of that dead little girl, Millie, flashed before his eyes constantly, Ed sat himself down next to his younger brother, "Well, at least there was a silver lining."

"A silver lining to finding three people dead?" Al whispered, completely bewildered. Ed nodded and took his braid in his hands before wringing the brownish sludge out of his hair. He continued to wring out what he could from his clothes and hair, but the clothes were still brown and wet. He could have used alchemy to clean himself up, but Al could see that the thought hadn't even occurred to the older Elric, his body language and face just screamed out that he was exhausted. Al couldn't keep his curiosity back though, "What exactly is this silver lining then, Brother?"

"It's not a good thing. But it does help along our investigation." Ed stated just as Colonel Mustang emerged out of the sewers. Al could see then that it wasn't only Ed who had been affected by finding the Goodmans' bodies own there, Mustang's face had paled too and his normally steely face was etched with sadness. Mustang heard Ed's statement and quickly joined the two boys, too unsettled to sit down with them. Ed continued, "We found a Tyke Goodman who's been dead for two weeks, and we sent Lieutenant Hawkeye after a Tyke Goodman who's alive and the exact twin of the one we just saw. The only explanation I have for that is Homunculi. Envy."

"Envy? But that's impossible, I mean sure they pick a fight with us a lot but that's because we're going after them all the time. They've never actively gone after military personnel before!" Al hissed quietly. Mustang could see where Al was coming from, but nobody knew much about the Homunculi anyway, Al couldn't possibly be sure that they wouldn't want to target the military. Ed leaned forward, his determination glinted in his eyes even though the Colonel could see that he was too tired to do much more today and be useful.

"Listen," Ed demanded. Al just sat back and listened to what his older brother had to say whilst Mustang moved in closer to hear the hushed voice of the older Elric. Mustang had already figured out that Ed didn't want the investigations department to know anything more about this so that Hughes would stay out of it and stay where he was safe. Colonel Mustang agreed with Ed on this one, so he followed the boys' lead and would keep his voice down when and if he spoke. Meanwhile, Ed presented what was going through his mind to the other two, "There can't be two Tyke Goodman's, but Envy can shape-shift. It makes sense that Envy took his appearance for cover or something! But there's not only that, the 'scary lady' in Elicia's room? The wounds that we found on those three bodies? They're the exact same wounds that we've found on Lust's victims in the past, it fits."

"Okay, but what about the alchemy?" Mustang asked in a whisper, "No Homunculus can do alchemy, and Al's right, it goes against their ultimate goal to go after military personnel. If they were going to go after anyone in the military, they'd go after an alchemist logically, right?"

"Unless they're working with an alchemist," Ed suggested. The other two stared blankly at him, Mustang looked from Ed to Al and then back again. Would an ordinary alchemist have any reason to kill Hughes though? Even more strange, how would an alchemist get the Homunculi to work with them? Then Mustang got it, there was one way that any alchemist anywhere could relatively easily convince a Homunculus to help them. But the idea that he might be right in what he thought Ed was thinking turned his stomach. Mustang's attention focused back on Ed, hoping against all hope that he was wrong, "I think that there might be an alchemist out there who has a Philosopher's stone."

"Really, a Philosopher's stone?" Al stuttered. The two Elrics had been pursuing this stone for a long time until they realised that it was made from live human beings. Since then they devoted themselves to finding another way to return each other's bodies to the way that they once were, long before Mustang had ever even met them. Ed nodded at his little brother grimly, both Elrics knew that if this alchemist had a Philosopher's stone and they had a run in with that alchemist then they would find themselves hard pressed to protect each other.

"That still doesn't answer the question of why Hughes is being targeted." Colonel Mustang interrupted the boys' thoughts. He was right, but Ed had a terrible feeling that if they really wanted to find out why Hughes was being targeted, then they would need to find this alchemist and ask him or her themselves. But if it was Homunculi that the three of them needed to find now, that meant that they needed to find the alchemist that they suspected was responsible for all of this first. Ed knew that the Homunculi would be sticking tight to their new leader if he or she really did have a Philosopher's stone.

"Maybe we should check state alchemists," Ed mused aloud. Al and Mustang jumped in shock at the thought that Ed suspected that his own colleagues could well be responsible for this horrible series of events. Mustang opened his mouth to protest, but Ed cut him off before a word could escape his lips, "You can't deny that state alchemists have gone bad before. It's as good a place to start as any, Colonel."

_THERE! Chapter 8 ready to read!_

_I hope you enjoyed it, please review and tell me what you thought. _

_Thanks a lot for all of your support as usual ;)_

_Varishi x_


	9. Chapter 9

_Hey there guys! I have a new chapter for you so please enjoy it and don't forget to review, okay?_

_Thanks a lot as usual for the great reviews and support!_

_Enjoy!_

_Varishi x_

"So Fullmetal, what are we going to be looking for when we get in there?" Mustang asked. The three of them had left the rest of the body recovery to the investigation's department under strict orders to keep the details from Hughes. Immediately after leaving the scene they had headed straight back to headquarters to look through the files where information on state alchemists was kept. At that moment, they were on their way to the room they were told the Hughes family were staying in so that they could get the Lieutenant Colonel to grant them access to the records room.

"Anything suspicious," Ed said simply. He turned around, slowing momentarily from his brisk pace to glance at Mustang and then at his younger brother. It became apparent that further information was needed; sometimes Ed forgot that not everyone thought the same way that he did. Ed whipped his head back around and quickened his pace once more, "You know, complicated pasts, dishonourable discharge, suspicious circumstances surrounding deaths. That kind of thing."

"What are we going to tell Hughes when we get to him, Brother?" Al asked quietly as though he was afraid of being overheard even though the three of them were in a completely deserted area. Ed hadn't thought of everything yet, but he knew that Hughes would only want to jump back into the case if he knew that people were in danger of dying. So all the older Elric knew for sure was that Hughes couldn't find out about the bodies, if he could just remain ignorant of that he would be a whole lot safer. Besides, the three alchemists were getting closer to solving this thing, Ed could feel it.

"We'll tell him the truth. Just leave the Goodmans out of it, right?" Ed said whilst sharing a confident smile with his brother. Mustang wondered how Ed could do that, just earlier today he had discovered three dead bodies and he wouldn't stop spacing out, but now it looked as though his determination was stronger than ever. It was definitely a mask, there was no way that Ed was okay after so little time, he was trying his best for his little brother because that was just the way Ed was.

"Right!" Alphonse confirmed, echoing his brother's confident tone of voice. Mustang shook his head slightly, after spending little over a day with Ed and his brother, Mustang had already gotten an idea of exactly how much Ed had to endure. The daily stress and skill that it took to protect his younger brother from the dark aspects of the world to the best of his ability, it would have been energy-sapping for just about anyone. But at Ed's young age, no child should _have_ to hold as much responsibility as he did. The two boys came to a stop outside a room which had the sound of Elicia's laughter emanating from it.

Ed rested his hand on the door handle for a while, taking some time to compose himself before pushing down the handle and entering the room in one fluid movement. Al and Mustang followed Ed hesitantly, for some reason the three of them had felt really nervous about seeing the Hughes' again after what had happened during their last visit. But when each of them was welcomed by warm smiles they couldn't understand how they had ever felt anxious about seeing the family of three in the first place. Elicia rushed over to Ed and Al and gave them both hugs before giggling and running off back to her where her toys lay strewn across the floor.

"Roy! Look at my darling Elicia, isn't she cuter than anything you've ever seen? Now I know what you're going to say, she takes after me right?" Hughes obsessed. He was doing the exact same thing that Ed did for his brother, pretending that everything was fine. Rather than ruin the illusion that Hughes was trying so hard to present to his family, Mustang decided to play along. He brought is left gloved hand up to his face and balled it up into a fist before letting his classic frustrated face wash over his worried one. He noticed that to his left, the older Elric was watching him as though trying to silently thank him for doing this for Elicia's sake.

"Do you want to be charred for the rest of your life or are you going to get serious?" Mustang growled dangerously. Hughes shrank away, feigning fear and then pouted girlishly. Gracia looked as grateful for the faked normality as Hughes himself was. Either way, Hughes knew that the Elrics wouldn't drop in solely to check up on him, not at such an important time as this. So he excused himself and blew his daughter a kiss before exiting the room accompanied by the Elrics and the Flame Alchemist.

"So what's this about?" Hughes inquired; he leaned against the wall outside of the room where he had been keeping his family safe. Now that he had taken off the mask he had probably plastered on his face the moment his family had left their home, the strain of his worry could now be seen displayed across his features. It made him look older. Hughes looked from Ed to Al and finally let his eyes settle on Roy, "Did you find anything that might bring you closer to solving this?"

"Ed thinks that the mastermind behind this might be an alchemist. We've also found reason to believe that the Homunculi are involved too," Colonel Mustang revealed. He wasted no time and gave it to the Lieutenant Colonel straight. After all, out of all of them, Hughes and his family were the ones in the most danger and that's exactly why they were living at the headquarters in the first place. Mustang tried to ignore the terrified expression that now clung to Hughes' tired features and continued, "We need you to write us permission into the records room. We've decided that starting at state alchemists would be a good idea, that way we can narrow down the suspects."

"Makes sense. I'll go and get you a form, wait here." Hughes said permissively. He hadn't questioned anything further; Ed knew already that Hughes knew that they were hiding something from him. But the Lieutenant Colonel didn't mind because he was more concerned about his family's safety than anything else and he knew that if something came up about his family or himself, those three alchemists would never hide it from him. So it was something else, Hughes knew that they must have a good reason for neglecting to share the information, so he didn't probe them about it.

Hughes returned with the necessary permission slip swiftly and then returned to his family with assurances from the other three that they would catch whoever was responsible for all of this soon. With that, Ed turned on his heel and headed off in the direction of the records room. It was really late now and researching would take a really long time, but Ed would work through the night if he had to because now three people had been killed he couldn't take an early night knowing that others could be in danger too. Ed hadn't said a word on the way to the records room, he was busy thinking about well, _everything._

Colonel Mustang thrust the permission slip into a guard's face and then attempted a smile when she moved aside compliantly. After finding the correct section for information on state alchemists, the three of them took a moment to fully appreciate the vast amount of files they were going to have to go through. There was a whole column of files stacked five shelves high full of state alchemists going back years. They were going to have to sift through them all and pick out the ones with something unusual in the small print. Sighing heavily, Mustang started to pull out the first mountain of files and divided them into three passing the two boys their share of the pile.

Whilst searching and searching through the vast piles of files, there were a few that had unusual backgrounds or reasons for leaving the military and they were separated out from the rest of the files in a smaller pile behind Ed. It took the entire night so go through the whole compilation of files and they ended up with five files that they had narrowed down. All of which were female. But one stuck out in particular to Ed, not only was she dishonourably discharged, her last mission report had been written and signed by Lieutenant Colonel Hughes himself. She seemed to have the most to do with Hughes out of the five Ed, Al and Mustang had chosen to be the most likely suspects. It seemed on her last mission she had lashed out at Hughes, and almost gotten the entire investigations team killed. Not to mention she really had killed someone 'unnecessarily' although they were the enemy. She had been considered unfit to carry her state alchemist certification and was stripped of her title.

Ed pointed to her file and then opened it to stare hard at the photograph._ Tia Wilson._ She looked like another typical state alchemist in the file, but when Al looked closer at her eyes he saw a hint of darkness in her that he rarely saw in anyone. Ed continued to study her appearance and as his eyes scanned over her cheekbones he felt that familiar sharp pain run through his head. The older Elric winced and hissed in pain, he closed his eyes as a flash of Tia's face crossed his mind. He remembered her vaguely, he might not have remembered everything, but after seeing another flash of a memory with her holding Elicia with a vicious grin on her face he knew that it was her. Tia Wilson was certainly the 'scary lady' that Elicia had been talking about. After that last one, no more memories brought him pain so he rubbed his head with his soft left hand.

"Are you okay, Brother?" Al squeaked when he saw his older brother rub his head as if he was in pain. Mustang looked up from Tia's photograph and blinked against the haze that tiredness was dropping over him and observed Ed. In response to Alphonse's worry, Ed simply smiled weakly. He hadn't slept all night and the previous night hadn't been a good sleep so it only made sense that he should feel bad. But the smile that Ed gave Al had a deeper meaning behind it than his usual 'I'm fine' mask.

"Yeah, it's just I remembered her. It's her, the one responsible for all of this. I remember her being in Elicia's room but then there's nothing after that." Ed explained. Even though it was only a small fraction of his memory, it was such a big help it was unreal. Mustang now understood Ed's smile, the fact that he had remembered Tia when he saw her meant that they had a definitive suspect. Their theory of her being in charge remained a theory, but it seemed to become more and more likely to be the truth every minute.

"Now we have a name we can ask around about her. We can probably find her easier! I bet there's more about where she was last known to be in her file," Mustang gushed. He was glad to suddenly be a little more out of uncertainty and have a good solid lead for the first time working on this case. He turned to Ed who looked equally relieved and almost excited, "We can get to work finding this girl."

Mustang and Ed got to their feet and nodded at each other with the same determined glow entering their eyes. But despite what they thought, Al knew that they would never make it through the day without some sort of meltdown or getting themselves sick because they'd overworked themselves. Ed let out a large yawn and that was enough to tell Al that now would be a good time to step in. Just as the Colonel and Ed started to march out of the records room with Tia Wilson's file in hand, Al reached out and grabbed the both of them.

"Oh no, you two are practically dead on your feet," Al said in a stern motherly fashion, "Firstly, we're going to clean up all of these files and then you're going to get some sleep. We can go after Wilson when you two are rested enough to actually think straight!"

_There! Complete!_

_Back to Japan tomorrow _

_Bye bye England it's been awesome staying here! Hopefully my sleeping pattern won't be too screwed up when I get home, that would be just my luck._

_Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought ;) Thanks!_

_Varishi x_


	10. Chapter 10

_Hey guys, I thought I'd update again quickly before I went to catch my flight back to Japan. _

_So here's the next chapter. We're already up to 10, huh?_

_Anyway, enjoy and review!_

_Varishi x_

After washing, Ed was ushered into bed by Al. Even though he knew that his younger brother was smart to make him get some rest, Ed was still frustrated that he felt closer than ever and he still couldn't go after Tia Wilson yet. Ed wanted to sleep, but he found it difficult because every time he closed his eyes he still saw that dead little girl's terrified face pushing him underneath that disgusting brown sewage water. Mustang was having the same troubles that Ed was, neither of them were going to get a proper night's sleep, but at least they could rest their bodies as much as possible in the minimum six hours that Al had insisted they take out of that day to sleep.

When six hours was up Al got up from his seat, he had promised his older brother he'd wake him as soon as that time amount of time was up. Al approached Ed's side, but just as he was about to place a large metal hand on his shoulder to wake him he noticed his brother's pained expression. He must have been having some sort of nightmare. Al sighed internally and then gently shook his brother awake. Ed's eyes flew open and he flinched away from his brother instinctively. Al took a step away from Ed, feeling slightly dejected, "Are you okay, Brother? You were dreaming."

Ed's quick, shallow breaths slowed as he stared at his younger brother, he then swung his legs over the side of the bed, not only did he want to hurry up and catch his attackers but he didn't want to dwell on the nightmare he had just endured rather he needed to take his mind off of it. The older Elric rushed into the bathroom to avoid his brother's heavy gaze. As Al watched his brother stumble into the bathroom he sighed, assuming that that meant Ed didn't want to talk about his dream, or anything that he'd been feeling lately since he got out of the hospital. So instead of pursuing the matter, Al decided to go and knock on Mustang's door so that they could all be ready at the same sort of time and leave together to continue their investigation.

As Alphonse walked loudly down the hallway he felt embarrassed that he couldn't be any quieter, after all there could still have been people sleeping although it was just past noon. Al raised his fist sheepishly to knock on Mustang's door but instead of his fist connecting with the wood; it connected with Mustang's head. The Colonel hadn't gotten much sleep and had long since decided to get up, get changed and wait for the boys to be ready. Mustang had heard Alphonse banging and crashing down the hallway and instead of waiting for him to come to the door, the Colonel had opened it before he had the chance to knock. He wasn't, however, expecting Al's fist to land on his head painfully.

"I'm sorry Colonel Mustang!" Al squeaked jumping away from the Colonel nervously. But instead of Mustang getting angry he simply waved it away and started to walk down the stairs just outside of his room telling Al that he would meet the brothers downstairs. Al watched uneasily as the Flame Alchemist slowly made his way down the stairs, his shoulder slightly hunched. Al thought, _So the Colonel didn't sleep well either, huh? He's a lot like you isn't he Brother?_

Ed had basically thrown his now miraculously clean clothes on and then stampeded out of the door hoping that Mustang was as eager to get started finding Tia as he was. Al must've fixed Ed's clothes through the night whilst he had nothing to do, he couldn't sleep or dream. But, at least, Ed knew that he wasn't being tortured by nightmares by night like he himself was. Ed passed Al in the hallway and started down the stairs just as Mustang had moments earlier, Al almost laughed. As usual his brother was ready to take on the world again after a little rest. What Al didn't know was that Ed was wearing another of his masks; he wanted Al to think he was ready for anything. But in reality, Ed had no idea what to expect from what his path had in store for him.

Once downstairs, the three of them planned where to head first. They were all sat around a small round table, Ed and Mustang had hot meals sitting in front of them but the both of them barely touched it. They were busy studying the files that Mustang had flipped open the moment Ed had arrived. The blonde was pointing to various parts of the file and making suggestions of where to start searching or gathering clues and Mustang took everything into consideration, indicating the pros and cons of each suggestion.

Was Al really the only one who had noticed the change in the two of them? They weren't teasing each other for a start, not only that, but they were both taking everything really seriously. Usually Ed would make a joke here and there to try to keep the mood light for himself and everyone else involved in what he was working on, but now he simply discussed with Alphonse and Mustang as though he was interested in nothing else. It could have been because he was almost killed by the people we were after, but Al thought that it was more likely to be the fact that three people were already dead. Al knew that Ed was making that his own fault somehow.

"Hey Al, are you listening? Stop spacing out." Ed said tapping Al's helmet with an automail finger. The clanking noise that came from the movement echoed throughout Al's armour, the sensation made him uncomfortable. Al shook his head and then refocused on what was going on. It seemed Ed and Mustang had finally agreed on a place to start, and that was with Hughes. Usually state alchemists wrote their own reports, as Ed was painfully aware of. But the final report in Tia Wilson's file had been hand written by Hughes himself and she had been dishonourably discharged from the military and stripped of her state alchemist certification just two days after the report had been filed.

After the car that had been called the moment Mustang had gotten downstairs had arrived, the Colonel requested to be taken back to headquarters as soon as possible. Sinking back into the cushioned seats, Mustang suddenly remembered another thing he had to do at headquarters, "I'm going to call and check in on Lieutenant Hawkeye, if she's any closer to catching Goodman – I mean, Envy – then that could make things move a lot faster. Of course, she doesn't know about Envy yet, so I'll bring her up to date on everything we know so far." Ed nodded firmly in response.

The car came to a halt outside Central headquarters. Usually entering headquarters Ed felt perfectly confident to walk through those doors, but ever since getting out of the hospital Ed felt ill at ease whenever he went near the place. He couldn't help but shiver, something which didn't go unnoticed by Al. Something had definitely changed, and Ed knew it. The blonde could only hope that his unsettled feeling surrounding Central headquarters wasn't linked with this case. But he had the horrible feeling that it did.

Ed ignored his bad feeling and pushed it down where he could cover it with other emotions, instead of worrying about this particular complication further, Ed decided that he would follow the plan and question Hughes first. Mustang moved ahead of the two brothers who followed without question. They headed to where they now knew Mustang was staying and hoped that Hughes would be in the mood to talk.

Mustang knocked on the door and Hughes opened it, instead of letting Elicia and Gracia see who was there, this time he slipped out of the room carefully and leaned in the same place he had the previous day when the three of them had come knocking. Hughes' eyes fell on the file that Mustang now carried in his hand and couldn't fight back the smile because that could only mean that they had an idea of who was responsible for all of this. Mustang opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to do it. So instead Ed took a deep breath and decided that he would take this one.

"We need to ask you about a suspect," Ed said, his face had set in that same steeled expression that Mustang so often adopted. Hughes' smile dropped, he had originally thought that the three of them were there to report to him about a suspect, not to _ask_ him about one. That could only mean that he knew the person that the boys suspected and nothing good could come of that. Ed continued, "Tia Wilson. How did you know her and have you done anything to her that might make her want to harm you?"

The upset expression that suddenly appeared on Hughes' face at the mention of Tia Wilson's name was information enough to tell the Elrics and Mustang that Hughes had definitely known her. Hughes turned his eyes to the floor as his expression darkened before he finally replied, "I knew her alright, and she was my subordinate – a pretty good friend too. For a while anyway."

"What happened on that last mission? It was all too vague in the file," Mustang asked after finally finding his voice again. Hughes looked up as though remembering something horrible and then gave the three of them a weak smile, "It says what happened, it just doesn't say how or why. You were there, right Maes? If we just knew what happened then we could confirm our suspicions and then look for her."

"Yeah, I get it. Let's go next door." Hughes said in a down-heartened voice. Ed and Al followed wordlessly, and Mustang joined them shortly after. The look on Hughes' face was rare, and Mustang hated seeing it. In the next room Al sat next to his older brother on a sofa on one side of the room and then Mustang took the armchair next to Hughes who was now leaning forward with his chin resting on his hands, a troubled expression on his face. Ed opened his mouth as if he were about to ask Hughes to go ahead, but Hughes didn't need the prompt. He told the story of what Tia Wilson was to him, beginning to end.

"Tia was a subordinate of mine as I already said. She was one of the most level-headed and kind people that I knew. But on that last mission, I saw a whole other side to her," Hughes explained, looking as though he was haunted by her memory – forced to relive a painful experience. Al looked away from Hughes' face feeling uneasy looking at such an out of character expression on his face; however Ed and Mustang never averted their gaze once. Hughes took some time to think everything through before speaking again, "There was a hostage situation following several cannon robberies of banks and major corporations across Central."

"There were several different robberies committed by members of the same gang, they'd split into groups and after the robberies each group had taken a group of hostages each," Hughes shook his head unhappily. Mustang suddenly recognised this case, he had heard about it. Was Hughes really involved in that blunder a few years back? He thought about interrupting, but the Elrics still needed the information so he stopped himself and allowed Hughes to continue, "The investigations department was ordered to go in and gather information on the nature of the hostages and to see if there was any way out. We went undercover; being spotted would have been the end of everything."

"Anyway, we went to the ring leader to try and gather information, Tia was on my team. As it turned out, she knew one of the hostages and when she saw her being treated badly… It was like something had taken over her. The Tia I knew wasn't the one I saw at all," Hughes went on, "She leapt out from her position and gave away the rest of our positions too despite me telling her to stay down. But it had already been done and the hostage she knew was killed. Tia lost it and attacked the ring leader, but I managed to grab her before we retreated. But we'd already been seen, so all of the other hostages, all thirty of them, were killed. In the chaos that group managed to get away. Not only had she endangered our lives, but she killed thirty others through her actions."

"I had never taken her seriously before," Hughes whispered, "She'd said that she hated me and she was going to kill me but I never thought she really meant it, I had considered her a friend. But I suppose some bonds are stronger than others, you Elrics are proof of that. The hostage who was killed was Tia's _sister_."

Mustang wordlessly got up to leave and call Hawkeye; Hughes knew that Mustang was disappointed in him because he had never told the Flame Alchemist that he was involved in that terrible event a few years back. But how could Hughes' possibly tell a man who thought so highly of him about such a failure that he considered to be his entire fault? Ed suddenly understood Tia's motive. Even though he didn't agree at all with what she was planning, there was nothing Ed understood better than the bond between siblings.

_Ahhhh finished at last!_

_Enjoy, and please review because I don't know whether to continue otherwise!_

_Varishi x_


	11. Chapter 11

_Hey again guys, just to let you know I won't be updating for two weeks starting from the 6__th__ of July._

_Anyway, enjoy this next chapter._

_Varishi x_

After Hughes had finished telling his story, he attempted a smile at the Elrics. Not quite knowing what to say, Ed had simply gotten up and thanked him shortly before leaving. It was only Al and Hughes who remained. Al felt sorry for Hughes, he must have felt terrible for what happened, but it really wasn't his fault. It was Tia's. But Al still understood how Ed felt; Al wasn't sure what he would do without his brother. He didn't even know whether he would be able to go on. Ed was Al's hope for the future; Al relied on Ed for everything including getting his original body back.

"If she really is behind all of this, Al," Hughes began sadly. Al looked back at Hughes in confusion, was he really in a position to make requests? Either way, Al listened to what he had to say anyway, "Just tell her I'm sorry. She won't believe me, but she should know anyway. I always thought it was shame I didn't get to know her well enough to invite her over." Al was surprised at Hughes' words, he wanted to apologise to the one who had nearly killed him, but not only that, had nearly killed Ed too. He couldn't really understand what Hughes should apologise for, but if it was going to bring Hughes some sort of peace of mind then it was worth assuring him that he'd do it. Even if that wasn't strictly true.

"I will, but you're not to blame for any of this." Al stated simply. With that, he got up and left to find his brother so that they could decide what to do next. It was clear in everyone's mind, Ed's, Al's, and the Colonel's that Tia Wilson definitely had the motive to kill Hughes and Ed remembered her, there was no doubt about the fact that she was involved. Not only that but the fact that she had a motive in the first place made her the most likely candidate to be the ring leader of this particular attack.

Al stepped heavily down the hallway in the direction he had seen his brother go, he had walked all the way out of the hallway and into the building's main foyer before he spotted Ed. The older Elric was stood with his head slightly cocked to the side in curiosity as he watched a particular guard. It was a hot day, so naturally some officers were wearing a different uniform than the usual. This particular guard however was wearing the usual uniform, but the blue overcoat was unbuttoned revealing the black shirt they wore beneath the coat. Ed was staring at the officer as though he was out of place, like he didn't belong there. Al approached Ed and laid a hand on his shoulder to let his brother know it was just him.

"I was just wondering how Tia would have known where Hughes lives." Ed asked rhetorically. Ed was right. Hughes had only just told Al how he's never known her well enough to invite her over to his house. Ed turned to his younger brother and stuck his hand inside Al's armour; he quickly found what he had been looking for and pulled it out. That evidence bag with a scrap of black cloth in it. The blonde pulled out the small sample of cloth and stared at it before staring at that same guard again, "I think she infiltrated the headquarters. The military always have good quality clothing made from local raw materials like wool because they're representing the state and supporting local farms. So this cloth matches military uniform perfectly. It would also explain how Tia Wilson could have gotten hold of Hughes address easily."

"Are you sure you aren't over thinking this a little? She could have followed Hughes home from work." Al suggested. He was readjusting the straps that held his armour together after Ed had gone fishing through the things he stored in there. Ed shook his head, he was sure then. He sighed; both brothers knew that if Tia Wilson could infiltrate the headquarters once, then she could infiltrate it again and that meant that although it would be really risky for her to pull off a murder in a military base she still could. The Hughes family still weren't completely safe even at headquarters.

"Hughes leaves at the same time as a ton of people and he often doesn't go straight home even after then. He doesn't even have a pattern to_ anything._" Ed pointed out. Al looked at his brother admiringly, sometimes it seemed as though Ed could answer anything. Then, as though reading what Al had been thinking a few moments ago just by looking at him Ed nodded, "I know, Hughes and his family are in danger here too, but then again they're probably still safer here than they are somewhere else. There isn't really much sense in moving them again; I don't even know where we'd move them to at this point. Let's just catch these people, okay?"

"Right! Where's Colonel Mustang?" Al said whilst looking around him for the solemn faced Colonel. Ed shrugged his shoulders and did a quick sweep of the room like Al had. He knew that he was checking in on Hawkeye, but could that really take this long? He'd left over ten minutes ago now, and he was usually the kind to hang up when someone else is still talking because he doesn't care much for what they have to say. Ed had always thought that it was different when he spoke to Lieutenant Hawkeye; after all he liked her better than he liked Ed that much was certain!

"Whatever, I need some fresh air to think I'm getting all stiff being in here." Ed moaned while stretching his arms out and shuffling around on his feet a little. Ed had been in the headquarters less than an hour and he was already claiming to get impatient, there was still plenty of the day left. Al sighed in exasperation; he knew that Ed would only get more and more frustrated if he stayed in the building any longer.

"Fine, wait outside and I'll go and hurry the Colonel up." Al instructed. He turned on his heel and went on his way; he didn't even know where Mustang had gone to use the phone. Al knew that it wouldn't take long to find Mustang anyway; they would soon be on their way. Ed watched as his younger brother walked away and let out a deep breath when he realised he could get out of the place he considered to be cooped up.

He exited the building and started to wander around just outside the gates thinking intensely of what to do next. There was a clue somewhere in everything that he had uncovered, something that would tell him where to go next, it was at the back of his mind but all of the other knowledge combined with his lack of sleep recently prevented him from reaching that all important conclusion. Mustang had the files containing everything they had on this case so far, all the more reason for the older Elric to impatiently await his return.

Al wandered the halls of the Central headquarters for a while before he heard Mustang's voice still on the phone. Mustang was being overwhelmed with a lot of information of how the chase was going. As Al approached him, Mustang simply nodded in acknowledgement and then turned his attention back to the phone. Ed was just going to have to wait for a little longer; he would at least have some more time to think to himself without Al and Mustang interrupting his thoughts every other minute.

The moment Hawkeye had answered the phone Colonel Mustang hadn't hesitated to tell her everything that they knew. She was most likely chasing Envy rather than Tyke Goodman and he gave her all of the information that he had and was relevant. After he had finished, Hawkeye realised that what Mustang had said had explained a lot of strange things that had been happening on the trail. Goodman had been heading south, but then about fifteen miles out of the city the team had found the clothes he had been wearing lying discarded in the street. But rather than wait on it, they had taken the clothes as evidence just in case they needed it in future and then they had continued following tracks. Eventually Hawkeye and her team had come to a standstill, it seemed that at a certain point, Goodman or Envy had left multiple tracks and they now had no idea which direction was the direction he had really gone in.

In fact, Hawkeye had been just about to call Mustang. The Flame alchemist nodded his head, after hearing this new information it became clear to him where he and the boys needed to head next, "Stay where you are, Lieutenant. I'll bring the Elrics over and we'll take it from there." Mustang looked over at Al who nodded in agreement. Ed had seemed agitated and didn't seem to know where to head next anyway, so Al knew that his older brother would probably be happy to have a decision made for him.

"Right, let's go and get Fullmetal and we'll take a car out to meet Lieutenant Hawkeye and her team." Mustang ordered. Al followed him back down the hallway to go and meet the older Elric who was probably still storming around the grounds wondering what to do next. They had enough details to work with now, all that was left was to catch the criminals, and that would probably clear up the rest of the case, the details that remained to be tied up.

Ed walked out of the gates and decided to take a walk around the block, he theorised that the more he got his blood pumping, the better he could think. So as he thought he walked briskly out of the Central headquarters gates, briefly turning to a random lower ranked officer to order them to let Al and Mustang know that he'd be back in around ten minutes and that they should be waiting for him by the gates. With that he sped off and wracked his mind for that damn memory holding the answer from him. Then it came to him and he stopped in his tracks. There was one house that he knew of where Tyke Goodman wouldn't be out of place, it was empty and according to the file it was pretty secluded so visitors were rare. _Rush Valley._

"That's it!" Ed whispered happily. It was a flimsy idea, but given that they had no idea where else to look the old house where the Goodman's used to live was a good place to start. Having the idea fixed in his head now, the pressure that he built up on his shoulders was relieved and he felt a lot lighter. Ed smiled and quickened his pace to get back to where he hoped Al and Mustang were already waiting for him so that he could tell them what he'd come up with and get on with his case. That is, until a loud _smack_ and a sharp pain filled the back of his head. Ed felt strong hands lift him off of his feet and throw him onto a cushioned seat before he passed out.

Al and the Colonel had been waiting by the gates of Central for half an hour now, was the officer that conveyed Ed's message sure that he'd said ten minutes? Mustang saw out of the corner of his eye that the large hollow suit of armour next to him was beginning to get nervous, he was subtly shaking. The Colonel looked straight ahead out of the gates, something wasn't right here. Fullmetal might not have always kept his promises to others, but he had never broken a promise to his brother before.

_There, all done. I hope you enjoyed it!_

_Please review for me! Do you still want to know how it ends?_

_Thanks a lot guys,_

_Varishi x_


	12. Chapter 12

_Hey again everyone! I'm back! Sorry about the long wait but it was unavoidable ;)_

_Anyway, enjoy this chapter! _

_Varishi x_

"He should have been back by now, Colonel." Al stated firmly. But Mustang knew only too well that his subordinate should definitely be here by now. A full hour had now passed and there was still no sign of Ed. The Colonel didn't know which direction the boy went in, but Al had already confidently said that if he went anywhere he'd only go around the block. The Colonel knew that there was no point in waiting any longer; if he hadn't turned up already then he wasn't coming. Even more worryingly, there had been no calls saying that Ed had ended up in a hospital or something, so the Flame alchemist knew that it was more likely that he was gone or lying unconscious or worse in some abandoned corner somewhere undetected.

"Come on, let's go and look for him." Colonel Mustang suddenly blurted out, gesturing for Al to follow him. Both he and Al had been a little startled by the obvious distress in the Colonel's voice. Al had been nervous when just twenty minutes had passed since Ed had reportedly left the grounds, but now that it had been a full hour if he could cry he would have been struggling not to. Ed wasn't properly rested; in fact when Al had gotten him up earlier that day he had been worried at the sight of the dark circles under his eyes and the dull expression on his face that had made him look unwell. If there was ever a time that Ed would definitely need his brother if he got into a rough patch, it was then.

The two remaining alchemists scoured the streets for any sign of the small blonde. It was only when they were halfway around the block that Al froze at the sight of something on the ground. He had seen the small object glitter in the distance but had assumed it was a piece of broken glass or something along those lines. But as they approached the object they identified it as an object which undoubtedly belonged to Ed: his silver state alchemist pocket watch. There was no way he'd drop that by accident, that watch was dear to him because in that watch he carried his resolve. It was where he had engraved the date that he and Al had burned down their home, signifying the beginning of a journey that they would not sway from until they had their original bodies back. If it wasn't clear before, now it was set in stone. Ed had been abducted.

"What do we do, Colonel?" Al panicked, his artificial eyes frantically darting here and there just in case there were any clues, when Mustang had finally said what they were both thinking out loud. Mustang turned away from the anxious suit of armour so that he could take some time to think as clearly as he could under the circumstances. As the Colonel turned away from him, Al knelt down and gently picked up his brother's pocket watch. He stared at the small silver object worriedly; he could only hope that Ed wasn't hurt. Al gripped the pocket watch tightly and rose back up to his feet once more. _Don't worry, Brother,_ Al thought, _We're coming for you. Hang in there._

Really, it was likely that the current case the three of them were working on together and Ed's recent abduction were connected. So the logical thing to do would be to continue on their previously decided course of action, go to Lieutenant Hawkeye and see whether they could figure out where the criminals were hiding out. But something was compelling Mustang to forget reason and just run after the young captive recklessly. But the Colonel knew that going to Hawkeye was probably the most sensible way to go, that way they would probably find Ed and his captors quicker.

"Come on, Alphonse," Colonel Mustang spoke softly so as to avoid startling the concerned younger Elric. Al watched Mustang's back, noticing that his shoulders were slightly more hunched than they had been before. It was yet another sign that Mustang wasn't as cold and emotionless towards Ed and his brother as he liked everyone else to think. Mustang gestured for Al to follow him as he started to walk back to headquarters, "I think our best bet of finding Fullmetal is going to my Lieutenant as planned."

"What does that mean? Do you think Ed was taken by the same people who attacked him and tried to kill Hughes?" Al's shaky metallic voice emerged from within the large suit of armour that was now loudly following the Colonel. Mustang responded only by nodding his head, the Colonel balled his fingers on both hands up into tight fists as he tried to control his anger. First, Ed had been attacked and ended up in hospital for a full week, next he finds out that the same ones who had made an attempt on Ed's life tried to kill Hughes too. But now they had taken his subordinate? Just the thought of what _could _be happening to Ed right at that moment made him sick to his stomach. He quickened his pace as a frustrated grunt escaped his lips.

The very moment the two of them stepped back inside headquarters they climbed into a shiny black car and then gave the current location of Hawkeye and the men that Mustang had sent to help her. At the sound of the Colonel's gabbling voice the driver knew that this was urgent so he pressed down on his pedal making the tyres squeal against the paving before speeding out of the front gates. Whilst journeying out to where Lieutenant Hawkeye was waiting as ordered, Al and Mustang didn't say a word to each other. Not only because they didn't want to worry each other anymore than they already were, but also because they were too lost in their own thoughts.

On arrival the two of them climbed out of the car and were greeted with a fantastic view of the valley around them. It was covered in green, and on a bright, sunny day such as this one the buttercups and other wild flowers that covered the valley sides were glowing in their collective multi-coloured beauty. The image of the blues, red and yellows that covered the ground seemed to compliment the perfect azure blue sky perfectly. But as Al took in the scene he could see that this was all wrong. His older brother had been abducted, so the beauty around him was the exact opposite of how he was feeling – still, he couldn't help but note how this pretty hillside was nothing in comparison to Resembool it the late spring. Mustang seemed in awe at the landscape, it was rare that people came out this far from Central so the area was completely unspoiled by man.

As the car had stopped on a road at the top of the valley, Mustang saw that it would be a short walk before he and Al would reach Hawkeye and the others. As he scanned the deep hillside for her, his eyes rested on what looked like her form at the very bottom of the valley, next to the river that ran at the bottom. Now Mustang could understand how his Lieutenant had lost track of Goodman, he could have easily lost her using that river. After waving the driver away, Mustang and Al started to carefully make their way down the steep hillside towards where the team were waiting.

While the Colonel made long confident strides down the sharp decline, Al took much shorter and more awkward steps due to the limitations of the armour he was bound to. Still, the pair kept up a fairly rapid pace which was mainly born of panic at the sudden disappearance of Ed. As Mustang seemed to race ahead – how was he already that far ahead? – to meet up with his Lieutenant, Al couldn't sway his attentions from his older brother. Why had he been abducted? Was it not those who attacked him in the first place who allowed him to leave and recover? The young Elric simply couldn't make sense of it all. Ironically, Al thought, if the brothers were to switch roles the younger brother was certain that Ed would be able to make sense of it, or at least have some sort of theory.

Having finally caught up with Mustang who was waiting for him patiently, but still holding an air of urgency around him, the two of them walked the last few steps to a waiting stony-faced Riza Hawkeye. The Lieutenant had already twigged that something wasn't right, most obviously was the absence of Edward Elric. But even if the older of the two Elric brothers _were_ present, after years of working with him, the look in Colonel Mustang's eyes would have been enough to tell Hawkeye something had happened: and nothing good for that matter.

"Where's Edward?" Hawkeye inevitably asked when the two remained in silence when they had made it to her side. Mustang raised an eyebrow and flicked his eyes towards Alphonse as though the gesture would ask the suit of armour a question that only the two of them would understand. But the younger brother kept his eyes fixed on the ground, he wished he could tell Hawkeye all about it, but Al was simply too shocked and worried to say a single word. So instead the Colonel took the responsibility that had been handed to him and explained what had happened since she had left his company. He told her everything of the investigation so far and the Lieutenant listened attentively and found nothing that would explain the Colonel's concerned expression that, really, only she could see beneath his emotionless mask.

That was, until the Colonel paused the flow of information before continuing once more, "We believe that Fullmetal's been abducted by the people who attacked him initially." And there ended Mustang's report. At this last piece of new information the Lieutenant's eyes bugged in shock. She wondered how exactly Edward had managed to get himself abducted with both his younger brother and his superior officer watching over him. Hawkeye took her time to process the onslaught of new data that had been pumped into her before nodding comprehensively. So what the boys were thinking was that if they found where Goodman – or rather, _Envy_ – was heading, they may well be heading towards where Edward was being taken. If not? Well, they'd be forced to cross that bridge when they came to it.

In return for Mustang's report, she gave him her own and finished with showing him the different routes that her unit believed Envy could be taking. Alphonse hadn't been paying much attention to most of what was being said, but there was one route that stuck out to him more than the others. One of the routes that Envy could well have been travelling in headed to Rush Valley. It was only an instinct that had piqued Al's interest, but he trusted his instincts and wracked his brain for why Rush Valley was relevant to this case.

As Mustang and the search unit puzzled over which route was their best bet, Al thought hard. It was a little while before it came to him, but it _did_ come to him. The Goodman family used to live in Rush Valley, in an isolated place just out of town too. So one of the routes had a slight link to the case, it was weak, but at least it wasn't nothing altogether like the other routes seemed to be. After being silent since he and Mustang had departed from Central, Mustang started slightly when he heard Al's quiet voice announce which route he thought was best. Usually Al didn't voice much of his own opinion in the company of anyone apart from his brother, but this was _for_ his brother. He couldn't be shy now. Not when his brother needed him. But there were no opposing ideas; they were to head for Rush Valley as soon as they could manage.

Right then, Ed needed Al. It wasn't the other way round as it usually was. Al wouldn't let down his brother; in fact, he would take the burden straight from Ed's shoulders and protect him. _He had to._

_Finally, chapter 12. I'm sorry about the two week wait, but it was unavoidable. But never mind about that now, I'm back so faster updates will be starting again._

_Thanks for being patient and all of your support._

_Varishi x_


	13. Chapter 13

_Hey guys, I've left you hanging too long, I was going to continue this chapter from Al and Mustang's point of view but I changed my mind. We should probably go back to Ed. ;)_

_Sorry it took so long, I've been pretty busy and got just about the worst virus I've ever had on my computer so yeah, that sucks! Never mind, here's the next chapter!_

_Enjoy!_

_Varishi x_

Ed felt heavy, he couldn't remember going to sleep but apparently he must have. It crossed his mind that maybe he had lost some of his memory again, but he quickly chased away the thoughts – not wanting to believe that he could lose his memory again – by slowly lifting his eyelids which were determined to stay shut and looking around. Where exactly _was_ he? The confused alchemist noticed immediately the absence of his younger brother as he shifted his gaze all around him in search of the suit of armour. His surroundings were barren and there was a lack of any kind of life apart from himself. In spite of this, Ed felt a chill run down his spine as his new surroundings seemed to carry a sense of foreboding.

It was a reasonably small room, with cream walls that seemed to have squares of a lighter shade of the homely colour. Ed thought that perhaps there had once been picture frames there, or some other kind of decoration. The floor was laid with good solid oak wood which, once again, had a large circle where the shade was lighter in the centre of the room where a rug may once have been. There was no doubt in Ed's mind that there had been people living here until fairly recently. The young alchemist had a giddy feeling that he might have known exactly where he was, and if he was right, he didn't like it one bit. There was one window in the room, big and wide-set, casting an ominous looking stripe of light through the centre of the room and finishing on Ed where he had propped himself up against the wall. One look at the landscape outside, dry with large natural structures made from rock rich in copper and iron, and Ed confirmed his suspicions. He was right, he was in Rush Valley, and that couldn't mean anything good. It couldn't be a coincidence that he was in the same place that he had been wanting to investigate next, could it?

Everything that he knew so far: that he had woken up after never having gone to sleep in the first place, that he was feeling bruised as though Al had tripped over and squashed him recently, that he was in _Rush Valley_ – of all places – where he had just been thinking his enemies had been hiding out. It all added up to one big disaster story, Ed knew now that he couldn't have come here with Al and Mustang, he must have been brought here by someone else. And Ed wasn't going to stick around to find out who. Bringing his arms out in front of him, Ed tried to scramble to his feet, but he noticed that his automail fingers were stiff and were stuck in a fist position and he could barely even move the arm at all. Still, the Elric struggled to his feet, only to find that he slammed right back down again to knock the wind out of his lungs.

After catching his breath, Ed sat up and stared at himself in horror. His left leg was missing, there was nothing there anymore, and the automail on his right arm must have been tampered with. Whoever had brought him here really didn't want him to leave, and now he really had no choice but to stay. What could he do? What _should_ he do? What was going to happen to him? Just as he was beginning to panic, it seemed the loud sound that he had made when he fell over had reminded his captors of his presence. The door that Ed had barely even noticed until then swung open fast and smacked the cream-coloured wall with a loud _crack! _As the blonde watched the plaster on the wall behind the door handle crack and spill onto the floor, four bodies moved into the room. At the sight of these four, Ed's breath caught in his throat and he knew then, _I'm doomed._

Three Homunculi and one alchemist against Ed, the Elric didn't like his odds much – especially with the absence of two of his limbs hindering him in such a way that he barely had a chance at all. But as he ran his eyes over the vicious looking group his eyes froze on the alchemist: Tia Wilson. Her eyes weren't the same as the others', she was scared, and it was plain to see why. Tia Wilson was in chains and being monitored carefully by a particularly ravenous-looking Gluttony to see certain that she didn't attempt any alchemy. The other two Homunculi, however, had their gazes fixed unwaveringly on Ed.

The way Lust and Envy were staring at him, triumphantly, did not bother him at first. This was because at first Ed was too busy wondering what Tia Wilson was doing in chains. She was working with the Homunculi, wasn't she? Had she betrayed them? Somehow the alternative seemed far more likely, _they_ had betrayed _her._ A part of Ed felt slightly sorry for Tia; he could understand her grief and also understood the fear she had to be feeling because she had no idea what was going to happen to her, just like him. The other part knew that something cannot be given without losing something, it was equivalent exchange, the very foundations of alchemy. Tia had been given a chance to take revenge on Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, now she had in a way gotten her comeuppance.

"What the hell's going on here?" Ed finally demanded after gawping at the alchemist who was glaring back spitefully. Tia knew that kid the moment she had seen him when she was dragged into the room. He was the interfering brat who had taken her off guard and prevented her from getting her revenge on Hughes and his rotten family. If she ever got out of these chains, she would kill him first and then go after the Hughes family. Lust looked between the two alchemists; it seemed that the two of them recognised each other from the last unfortunate time that they had met.

"Why don't you worry about yourself, pipsqueak?" Envy growled irritably. At his words, Ed felt his stomach sink, so it was them who had brought him here and something was definitely going on to involve him. It couldn't be anything pleasant; Ed knew that much for certain. But given his bare surroundings, Ed hadn't been able to get a grasp on any sort of plan that may have been starting to reveal itself. The confusion on his face made a loud, bone-rattling laugh erupt from Envy, "Wait, you don't remember? Oh that's hilarious. Was it too much for you to handle, runt?"

"What are you talking about?" Ed snapped. He was trying to hide that fact that Envy's words troubled him by hiding behind his tough exterior. But Envy could see straight through it, he knew that Ed was scared about his lost memory and about where he was, and that made him glad. What else had happened that Ed had forgotten about? It must have been something involving the Homunculi or Envy probably wouldn't be that interested. But the green spiky-haired guy's words had suggested that before he lost his memory, Ed had probably been told about some sort of plan. Although as much as he tried, Ed just couldn't bring up any glimpses of his past that gave him any clues towards what was happening here.

"Looks like we'll have to tell the brat everything all over again, how troublesome," Lust sighed as Envy's mouth widened into a vicious grin. Lust's lips pulled up at the edges and she began to tell Ed what she had the first time round, "I already explained it once, so it annoys me that I have to do it again. But still, we gave Tia a fake Philosopher's stone made from red water. We thought she might have been a good enough alchemist to do what we needed her to, but regrettably that wasn't the case. She came to us a month or so ago and begged us to help her kill a man called Maes Hughes. We decided that, if she could successfully carry out such a simple assassination then maybe we could give her chance at turning us into humans."

Ed gritted his teeth angrily. The Homunculi were behind everything then, they were just using Tia to their own twisted ends. Now that he had heard these words, however, he had a good guess at where this was heading and again, he wouldn't like it if he proved right. Lust could see on the Elric's face that he had already figured out the direction that this conversation was going in, she couldn't help herself but grin maliciously at the delicious sight of terror enveloping Edward from the inside out. Tia seemed to almost feel the growing tension in the room; she knew very well that no matter what happened next she was a goner. She would either die at the hands of the very Homunculi she had trusted to help her kill another, or she would be arrested by the Elric boy and the military. Just the thought of both options scared her so much that a frightened whimper escaped her lips.

"Obviously, as I assume you already know, Tia failed. If she failed at such a simple task, then she would definitely fail human transmutation," Lust continued colloquially as though telling a fairy tale to a child before bed time, "We'd already had a plan B, so her disappointment was nothing to be upset over. After all, if she could do nothing else to help us to achieve our cause, she could become an ingrediant."

"Ingrediant?" Ed repeated cautiously. Suddenly, with a terrible cold panic washing over him, Ed remembered what a Philosopher's stone was made from. _Live human souls._ The Elric widened his eyes and felt his already thumping heart pound all the harder until it was all he could hear. Ed looked up at Tia; she was a criminal and deserved to be treated like one, but she didn't deserve to die a painful death serving as a substitute Philosopher's stone in a human transmutation reaction! Nobody deserved that. Ed shook his head in disbelief and broke his gaze from Tia, fixing it once again on Lust, "You can't!"

"We can," Lust deflected calmly. She stepped towards Tia and stroked her right index finger down the petrified woman's cheek. The look in Lust's eyes could easily be mistaken for love, but Ed knew better. Any warmth that Lust may have ever felt would only be for the most selfish of reasons. She was a Homunculus after all. Tia squeezed her eyes shut tightly as Lust's long, razor-sharp finger nail made a shallow incision into her soft flesh. At the sight of the small crimson droplets which oozed from Tia's cheek, Gluttony whimpered hungrily and advanced an extra step closer to her. Lust stuck out a hand to keep Gluttony at bay and then continued once again, still staring intently at Tia, "We can and we will. Tia will be the fuel along with a few other unimportant sacrifices, and you will be the alchemist who turns us into human beings."

"Oh really? Good luck with that because I'd never..." Ed had been shouting confidently, but towards the end of his noble speech Envy had quite suddenly burst into laughter. Ed frowned more in confusion than anger and stared dumbly at Envy. Tia had reopened her eyes and was now gawping with wide eyes at Envy too. Gluttony had absent-mindedly joined Envy in his cackling whilst Lust just stood there looking completely unphased by anything that was happening around her. Silent tears were beginning to roll down Tia's cheeks, she didn't dare to hope for anything anymore.

"Did you think we hadn't thought this through, pipsqueak?" Envy roared gleefully at Ed. Envy approached Ed slowly until their faces were almost touching, "Did you think this was all a last minute thing? You stupid runt! Your friends will have figured out where you are now, but the moment they set foot in Rush Valley they'll be just as hopeless as you!"

_There! Sorry for the wait, I'll have to find a new computer to do all my writing from so wish me luck with that!_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 13, please review and let me know what you thought!_

_Thanks for your patience and support, it really means a lot! ;)_

_Varishi x_


	14. Chapter 14

_Hi guys, at long long last I've gotten a new laptop! Completely virus free and probably a lot faster too!_

_I'm really so so so sorry about the huge wait and I hope you can get back into the story again, I'll try and finish this one, but it's been so long I've lost all of my enthusiasm about it so yeah... I'll have to try my best to get motivated again!_

_I've also decided to shorten the chapters a little so that I can maybe find it a little easier to get inspired._

_Never mind, I'll do my best and you'll just have to let me know how I'm doing in the reviews as usual or you can feel free to PM me ;)_

_Without further ado, chapter 14!_

_Varishi x_

The moment that Al had suggested the route he had thought best, Colonel Mustang had immediately been right behind him. After all, they had an entire search party at their disposal so it wouldn't necessarily matter if the route to Rush Valley was the wrong one. Being the highest ranking officer on arrival, the Colonel had ordered the party to split up into groups and investigate each set of tracks separately. That way, each route was covered by capable hands and Ed would be found quickly. Al was thankful to have Mustang with him because, although the Colonel wasn't the most comforting of company, he knew what he was doing and Al was confident that his older brother would be found a whole lot faster with Mustang in charge than if he himself was.

The groups were dismissed one at a time, each to their own route. This left Al in the team going to Rush Valley with Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye and three soldiers who Al had never even seen before. The six of them wasted no time and headed down the track to Rush Valley at a brisk pace, if they were lucky they would make it to the town by nightfall. Al couldn't help but think that he could run ahead and make the valley sooner because he couldn't tire, but what if he ran into trouble on the way and needed help? Or what if Mustang's party came under attack somehow behind him and he wasn't there to help? No, no matter how much he wanted to race ahead, it was better for him to stay with the group and follow the organised plan. Jumping in recklessly could end badly, Al should have known that - after all it was always the oldest Elric who favoured spontaneity instead of a more sensible plan and got himself hurt.

The tracks that Al's party was following were going right through a lot of overgrown vegetation and thick swampy areas, the culprit knew perfectly well that this terrain would slow them down. Alphonse found himself growing more and more agitated as he thought more and more that they were doing exactly what the villain's wanted. But on top of that there was a sense that something was watching him, but as much as he looked around him he couldn't see anything, so he took no further notice and played it up to nerves. Mustang's eyes kept on flickering to the large suit of armour, Al's demeanour suggested that he was completely stoic, but the Colonel knew better. There was no way that Al could be calm when his brother was Lord knows where and doing Lord knows what; Mustang was proved right when Al suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing the other soldiers to turn around curiously and stare at the suit of armour.

"We're doing exactly what they want us to, whoever has Ed I mean," Al suddenly burst out after a moment or two of uncomfortable silence. Colonel Mustang sighed to himself, although trying not to let his frustration reach his face - every moment that they spent reassuring Al however, was another moment they wasted in Ed's rescue. The Flame alchemist had known that the plan bothered Al. But it wasn't like he had voiced his concerns earlier when they were discussing things, if he had made his point back then there wouldn't have been any further problems: or rather inconveniences. Al continued after another short pause, "How can we possibly save Ed if we're doing everything exactly the way his captors want? They must have taken us into account. They must have."

"Alphonse, we don't have any other choice. None of us particularly like just strolling in like we have no clue what we're doing, but Ed's not even guaranteed to be in Rush Valley. So how exactly would you suggest we proceed?" Mustang snapped tightly. His consecutive nights of bad sleep and annoyance at Ed's being taken from right under his nose seemed to have taken a certain toll on the Colonel. But luckily, Lieutenant Hawkeye was there to keep him in check and he noticed almost immediately the warning eye she gave him the moment he had finished his little speech. That look told him not to go too far, it told him to remember that Al was just a scared child who's had his big brother taken from him. Mustang sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before laying a comforting hand on Al's arm. Al may not have been able to feel his touch, but the gesture was there and Al was still grateful for that.

"I'm sorry, Colonel. I didn't mean to moan," Al apologised quickly. Really, he was just worried about Ed. The people who had taken his older brother were dangerous and Al was well aware of that. He just wanted to see Ed safe, there was nothing he wanted more at that moment. So, swallowing his worries about the plan he was following, Al straightened up and prepared to walk again, "I see there's no other way. Let's all just be careful and keep going, okay?"

The Colonel nodded in relief at his seemingly narrow escape of an all out debate, and felt his taught jaw loosen a little when the party began to move along the tracks again. From there, the walk to Rush Valley was rather uneventful. That is, apart from the feeling that Mustang kept on having that he was being watched. But whenever the alchemist looked around at the other members of the group, everyone else seemed quite relaxed so he just played it up to his lack of sleep. He did however spare a concerned glance for the surrounding terrain every now and then, just to be sure that there was no impending attack on the immediate horizon.

It seemed Mustang and Al had both piqued the same instinct's interest. What both Mustang and Alphonse had failed to notice, however, was that there _was_ someone watching the small party's progression: and that someone was just biding their time, and waiting for Mustang and his mismatched group of idiots to cross that border into Rush Valley. Then and only then would that someone attack, then and only then would the rescue party all become _ingredients._

_That was actually quite difficult to write :(  
I hope you enjoyed it anyway, drop me a review and let me know how it went though.  
Sorry again for the HUGE wait!_

_Varishi x_


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